rewarded him adequately, thanked him much for all his trouble, and hoped
that, when next we visited St. Kitts, his cheerful face might be the
first to meet us. He answered:

"Please God, gem'men, I be at de pier-head when next you come 'long.
Anyhow, you ask for Jefferson." Then, blessing us without stint, he
departed.

And here I am reluctantly compelled to reprove the white and
tawny-coloured inhabitants of St. Kitts for a breach of good manners.
Boat-loads of gentlemen from shore crowded the "Rhine," like locusts,
during her short stay at this island. They inundated the saloon bar,
scrambled for seats at the luncheon-table, and showed a wild eagerness
to eat and drink for nothing, which was most unseemly. One would have
imagined that these worthy folks only enjoyed a hearty meal upon the
occasional visits of a steamer; for after they had done with us they all
rowed off to a neighbouring vessel, and boarded her in like manner,
swarming up her sides to see what they could devour. That the
intelligent male population of an island should come off to the ships,
and chat with acquaintances and hear the latest news and enlarge its
mind, is rational enough; but that it should organise greedy raids upon
the provisions, and get in the way of the crew and passengers, and eat
up refreshments which it is not justified in even approaching, appears
to me unrefined, if not absolutely vulgar.

Leprosy and gluttony are the prevailing disorders at St. Kitts. The
first is, unfortunately, incurable, but the second might easily be
remedied, and should be. All that the white inhabitants need is a shade
more self-control in the matter of other people's food, then they will
be equal to the best of their brothers at home or abroad.

That afternoon the subject of influenza formed a principal theme in the
smoking-room of the "Rhine." Our Fourth Officer said:

"Probably I am better qualified to discuss it than any of you men; for,
two years ago, I had a most violent attack of Russian influenza _in_
Russia. Mere English, suburban influenza is child's-play by comparison.
I suffered at Odessa on the Black Sea, and my temperature went up to
just under two hundred, and I singed the bed-clothes. A friend of mine,
an old shipmate, had it at the same place; and his temperature went
considerably over two hundred, and he set his bed-clothes on fire and
was burnt to death, being too weak to escape."

This reminiscence would seem to show that our Fo