d. I
might here explain that the sleeping accommodation for the Malays was
both ample and comfortable. A large room in which the casks of fresh
water were stored was set apart for their use. These casks were turned
on end and a deck of planks placed over them, on which the Malays laid
their sleeping mats and little wooden pillows. They ranged themselves
twenty a side. But you may be asking, what was _I_ doing during these
pearling expeditions? Well, I was intrusted with the important duty of
receiving the shells from the men, and crediting each with the number he
delivered. Thus I was nearly always left alone on the ship--save for the
dog; because even the two Malay women frequently went out diving, and
they were credited for work done precisely as the men were.

If I had no shells to open whilst the divers were absent, I filled in my
time by sewing sails, which Jensen himself would cut to the required
shape--and reading, &c. My library consisted of only five books--a copy
of the Bible, and a four-volume medical work in English by Bell, which I
had purchased at Singapore. I made quite a study of the contents of this
work, and acquired much valuable information, which I was able to put to
good use in after years, more particularly during my sojourn amongst the
Blacks. Bruno generally sat by my side on deck when I was alone,--in
fact he was nearly always with me. He took to me more than to Jensen
from the first. Jensen rarely tried to bully me, though of course I was
now very much in his power, as he emphatically illustrated one day. A
Malay diver had very much annoyed him, and in his fury he picked up a
heavy broom with a stick fully four feet long, and felled the poor fellow
senseless to the deck with it. I was shocked at such awful brutality,
and ventured to protest against it. "Captain," I said, "don't do
anything like that again whilst I am aboard." Turning round in a great
passion he ordered me to keep my own counsel, otherwise he would have me
put in irons. But for all that Jensen never again let his temper get the
better of him to such an extent in my presence. He was always very gruff
in his manner, and looked upon me as the "darndest fool he had ever met."

These divers, by the way, never seemed to trouble about the value of the
treasure they were constantly bringing to the surface. They thought
themselves well paid if they were given plenty of rice and fish, turtles'
eggs and fowls, in additi