There is only one other house here, the home of Mr Joski, a sugar-planter. His family are very kind, and do all in their power to make us comfortable. There is a large sugar-mill here, and the near hills are covered with cane; but this is, unfortunately, one of the districts where sugar has failed, and the planters are hopelessly ruined. It is so sad to see the deserted sugar-mill, and the fields of cane that are not considered worth cutting. It was absurd folly ever to plant cane at this place, the soil being scanty and utterly unsuitable. But this is one of the sites which runs the best chance of being chosen as the new capital (of the pauper colony), in which case the landowners will some day be rich. This harbour is simply lovely. From the flat (which is the site of the town in the air) we look across to hills in form like those of Torridon in Ross-shire, but covered with densest tropical vegetation, and watered by many rivers, each lovelier than the last. There are four of these quite near together, and every afternoon we explore one or other in the Governor’s charming boat, rowed by half-a-dozen brown beings with great fuzzy heads, and wearing a becoming dress of white, trimmed with crimson. This morning I had a good walk in the early morning to get a sketch from a lovely site. Then after breakfast we rowed up one of the rivers, and lunched on a grassy bank under a shady citron-tree, as far up as we could take the boat. The vegetation was too exquisite. We found several orchids new to us, and a lovely pink-and-white wax-like creeper. I never saw such wealth of ferns of every sort and kind, specially hundreds of tall tree-ferns, with stems about thirty feet, and masses of one like a gigantic Osmunda. I never can find seeds of the grandest, but I send you such as I have. We had an amusing expedition yesterday. I started early with Miss Joski, and our route lay along the top of the ridge, tall reeds far over our heads. Before we were aware of its approach, a tropical shower came on, and we were drenched (of course my dear shiny waterproof kept me dry, but my companion was soaked), so we made for a house where a good old Irish couple lived, with a troop of babies. They were just getting up. But in we marched, and prayed for dry clothes; and the good woman clothed Miss Joski from head to foot, and supplied me with dry stockings and boots. Then we joined our picnic breakfast to theirs. They insisted on killing a chicken in our honour; and our mutton sandwiches were a rare prize in a district where butcher-meat is unattainable. By this time the day was glorious, and we sketched till afternoon. Such a view, and such a flight of stairs down to the sea—a quarter of a mile, and almost perpendicular! To-morrow early we all start for the Rewa, another district, where there is a great native gathering to meet the Governor. Half of the charm of wandering in these mountains is the knowledge that two years ago we should certainly have been eaten!