a letter or a
note, and begin the same without any spark of hope, my mind being
entirely in abeyance. This malady is very bitter on the literary man. I
have had it now coming on for a month, and it seems to get worse instead
of better. If it should prove to be softening of the brain, a melancholy
interest will attach to the present document. I heard a great deal about
you from my mother and Graham Balfour; the latter declares that you
could take a First in any Samoan subject. If that be so, I should like
to hear you on the theory of the constitution. Also to consult you on
the force of the particles _o lo'o_ and _ua_, which are the subject of a
dispute among local pundits. You might, if you ever answer this, give me
your opinion on the origin of the Samoan race, just to complete the
favour.

They both say that you are looking well, and I suppose I may conclude
from that that you are feeling passably. I wish I was. Do not suppose
from this that I am ill in body; it is the numskull that I complain of.
And when that is wrong, as you must be very keenly aware, you begin
every day with a smarting disappointment, which is not good for the
temper. I am in one of the humours when a man wonders how any one can be
such an ass as to embrace the profession of letters, and not get
apprenticed to a barber or keep a baked-potato stall. But I have no
doubt in the course of a week, or perhaps to-morrow, things will look
better.

We have at present in port the model warship of Great Britain. She is
called the _Curacoa_, and has the nicest set of officers and men
conceivable. They, the officers, are all very intimate with us, and the
front verandah is known as the Curacoa Club, and the road up to Vailima
is known as the Curacoa Track. It was rather a surprise to me; many
naval officers have I known, and somehow had not learned to think
entirely well of them, and perhaps sometimes ask myself a little
uneasily how that kind of men could do great actions? and behold! the
answer comes to me, and I see a ship that I would guarantee to go
anywhere it was possible for men to go, and accomplish anything it was
permitted man to attempt. I had a cruise on board of her not long ago to
Manu'a, and was delighted. The goodwill of all on board; the grim
playfulness of[77] quarters, with the wounded falling down at the
word; the ambulances hastening up and carrying them away; the Captain
suddenly crying, "Fire in the ward-room!" and the squad has