_Tuesday, August 3rd._--It gets somewhat monotonous to write every day of cold nights, but this last one has been no exception. The cold is so peculiar and penetrating that clad in flannel from head to foot, and covered with a blanket and rug, I failed to keep it out, and slept very badly in consequence. When I did sleep, too, I was troubled with dreams and fancied myself in Ireland hunted by ‘Moonlighters.’ I had proposed to go to a very distant district called “Golvanua” to-day, but at the eleventh hour my escort cried off and I could not go alone. I cannot quite say why it is, but natives when they are about to make an excursion almost invariably start on the spur of the moment without making any previous appointment, or specifying any distinct time. Whether they wish to elude ‘Fate’ and deprive it of the chance of being unpropitious by stealing a march, or whether the fear of material foes induces them to do these things secretly so that they may not be cognizant of their movements, or what it is I do not know, but fact it is that if you want to make a journey, you must abide the native’s time and conveniences for they will seldom assent to yours if premeditated or prearranged. I quite expect that some fine morning, before I am out of bed perhaps, my escort will be awaiting me outside my door, and anxiously and impatiently desiring to start at once. Natives make no preparation for a journey, they have no impedimenta of travel, and lightly clad, and lightly weighted, they are ready at any moment to start, and a long or short stay is all the same to them. They want no canteens or bedding or change of clothing, and they can lay their heads down in any spot, and rest and refresh themselves, and be ready for any emergency. They do not even need as much as a tooth brush and pair of slippers for their excursions, and marvel at our wanting so much to them unnecessary luggage. I believe I should make many more journeys, if I could accomplish them with so little inconvenience and discomfort.