combined. He
further stated that in the principal cities there immense stores could
be found which handled nothing but locks. Those statements were so
remarkable to me that I inquired the reason, and learned that every
native, although he may have trinkets worth less than a dollar, would
invariably have a lock, worth half as much or more, to keep it
securely."

"We have been thinking over the plan of surveying this part of the
island and giving names to the main points; what do you think of the
idea?" asked George.

"The plan has my hearty approval."

"It occurred to us that on our next holiday we could devote the day to
that purpose."

The Professor burst into a fit of laughter, to the surprise of all. That
didn't seem to be very comical to them, and they looked inquiringly, as
they joined in the laughter.

"So you are going to do work on your holidays hereafter." And he laughed
again.

"Well, that wouldn't be work; it would be fun;" and, after reflecting a
moment, Tom continued: "Probably it wouldn't be fun to do it every day,
right along."

"I think you have struck the keynote of the whole subject of recreation.
The word comes from re-create. It means the refreshment of the strength
and spirits by some diversion. The great difficulty with most people is
that the recreation they take is really a burden to them; when,
therefore, you can take a holiday, where you accomplish something, and
make fun out of that, you have solved the greatest problem of civilized
life."

"Well if we are to survey the island we ought to have an instrument for
the purpose."

"That is not necessary. It would be much better to have a theodolite,
but it will take some time and very careful work to turn out such an
instrument."

"In what way is the instrument so much more useful than without, and how
can we do surveying without it?"

"It does two very important things: First, the telescope, which is a
part of it, enables the observer to see much farther and with greater
accuracy; and, secondly, it has a graduated scale in degrees which shows
the angles. Without these two important qualities we should be compelled
to run our lines for short distances only at each sighting, and at each
observation it would be necessary to provide a means to get the exact
angle with reference to the last line projected. Those features,
together with the compass, make the instrument an important requisite
for correct surveying."

The boat house was