t
with in his manner.

We had a quick passage round the Horn.

Owen appeared either very greatly changed, or proved that to his other
arts he could practise hypocrisy. Our captain was a religious man, and,
what was rare in those days, used to invite the officers in to read the
Bible with him. Owen, who used to say that he had never been into a
church since he came to sea, was among the most constant in his
attendance, and completely won the confidence of the captain, who spoke
of him as an excellent man who had not received his deserts. Owen, on
the strength of this, insinuated that my religious principles were very
defective, and offered to instruct me. He made a commencement, and
might have succeeded in instilling principles not such as our excellent
captain supposed he would, but directly the reverse, had not Pearson, to
whom I repeated what he said, again interfered, and threatened to expose
him if he continued to utter such sentiments. He excused himself by
declaring that I had mistaken his meaning; but Pearson knew well enough
that I had not; and I soon saw by his change of manner that he was
devising some new scheme to do me harm.

When once, however, among the coral islands of the Pacific, we were so
constantly employed in looking out for reefs and rocks, that we had
little time for polemical discussions. Although the inhabitants of some
of the islands had in those days already become partially civilised
under missionary teaching, a large number were fierce and treacherous
savages, and in our intercourse with them we were compelled to be very
wary, to avoid the fate of Captain Cook, and that of the crews of many
other ships which had been cut off in those seas. We had already
discovered that the Pacific can be anything but tranquil at times, by
two heavy gales we had already experienced, but of late we had light
breezes and calms. At length our water began to run short, and it
became necessary to obtain a supply without delay. A look-out was
therefore kept for an island where it could be procured. Before long an
island was sighted, and three boats were ordered away to explore it.
Owen commanded one of them, and I was ordered to go in her. I was glad
enough to get on shore, though I would rather have been with any one
else.

As there appeared to be no inhabitants, we were to land at different
places, so as the more readily to find water. We steered for a point
which would take us farther from the