if the
public will rise to it. A copy of my journal, or as much of it as is
made, shall go to you also; it is, of course, quite imperfect, much
being to be added and corrected; but O, for the eggs in the different
baskets.

All the rest are well enough, and all have enjoyed the cruise so far, in
spite of its drawbacks. We have had an awfae time in some ways, Mr.
Baxter; and if I wasnae sic a verra patient man (when I ken that I
_have_ to be) there wad hae been a braw row; and ance if I hadnae
happened to be on deck about three in the marnin', I _think_ there would
have been _murder_ done. The American Mairchant Marine is a kent
service; ye'll have heard its praise, I'm thinkin'; an' if ye never did,
ye can get _Twa Years Before the Mast_, by Dana, whaur forbye a great
deal o' pleisure, ye'll get a' the needcessary information. Love to your
father and all the family.--Ever your affectionate friend,

ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON.

TO MISS ADELAIDE BOODLE

This lady, as we have seen, had made Stevenson a present of a
paper-cutter when he left Bournemouth; and it is in the character of
the paper-cutter that he now writes.

_Taiti, October 10th, 1888._

DEAR GIVER,--I am at a loss to conceive your object in giving me to a
person so locomotory as my proprietor. The number of thousand miles that
I have travelled, the strange bed-fellows with which I have been made
acquainted, I lack the requisite literary talent to make clear to your
imagination. I speak of bed-fellows; pocket-fellows would be a more
exact expression, for the place of my abode is in my master's right-hand
trouser-pocket; and there, as he waded on the resounding beaches of
Nukahiva, or in the shallow tepid water on the reef of Fakarava, I have
been overwhelmed by and buried among all manner of abominable South Sea
shells, beautiful enough in their way, I make no doubt, but singular
company for any self-respecting paper-cutter. He, my master--or as I
more justly call him, my bearer; for although I occasionally serve him,
does not he serve me daily and all day long, carrying me like an African
potentate on my subject's legs?--_he_ is delighted with these isles, and
this climate, and these savages, and a variety of other things. He now
blows a flageolet with singular effects: sometimes the poor thing
appears stifled with shame, sometimes it screams with agony; he pursues
his career with truculent insensibility. Health appears to reign i