th a red handkerchief hanging from round her
neck between her breasts; not another stitch; her hair close cropped and
oiled; when she first came here she was an angelic little stripling, but
she is now in full flower--or half-flower--and grows buxom. As I write,
I hear her wet cloth moving and grunting with some industry; for I had a
word this day with her husband on the matter of work and meal-time, when
she is always late. And she has a vague reverence for Papa, as she and
her enormous husband address me when anything is wrong. Her husband is
Lafaele, sometimes called the archangel, of whom I have writ you often.
Rest of our household, Talolo, cook; Pulu, kitchen boy, good, steady,
industrious lads; Henry, back again from Savaii, where his love affair
seems not to have prospered, with what looks like a spear-wound in the
back of his head, of which Mr. Reticence says nothing; Simi, Manuele,
and two other labourers outdoors. Lafaele is provost of the live-stock,
whereof now, three milk-cows, one bull-calf, one heifer, Jack,
Macfarlane, the mare, Harold, Tifaga Jack, Donald and Edinburgh--seven
horses--O, and the stallion--eight horses; five cattle; total, if my
arithmetic be correct, thirteen head of beasts; I don't know how the
pigs stand, or the ducks, or the chickens; but we get a good many eggs,
and now and again a duckling or a chickling for the table; the pigs are
more solemn, and appear only on birthdays and sich.

_Monday, Dec. 7._--On Friday morning about eleven 1500 cacao seeds
arrived, and we set to and toiled from twelve that day to six, and went
to bed pretty tired. Next day I got about an hour and a half at my
History, and was at it again by 8.10, and except an hour for lunch kept
at it till four P.M. Yesterday, I did some History in the morning, and
slept most of the afternoon; and to-day, being still averse from
physical labour, and the mail drawing nigh, drew out of the squad, and
finished for press the fifth chapter of my History; fifty-nine pages in
one month; which (you will allow me to say) is a devil of a large order;
it means at least 177 pages of writing; 89,000 words! and hours going to
and fro among my notes. However, this is the way it has to be done; the
job must be done fast, or it is of no use. And it is a curious yarn.
Honestly, I think people should be amused and convinced, if they could
be at the pains to look at such a damned outlandish piece of machinery,
which of course they won't. And