78. The women that I have seen so far simply are very ordinary, rather low class creatures, tending toward thin khaki jodhpurs and cotton singlets as their form of clothing. Nowhere, so far, in the South Seas, have I seen a single woman of allurement nor a man of mystery. No broken noblemen are ex- iled Oxford dons live in these seas, the shadows of Tondelao have vanished completely. It is a disappointment and I think somebody should give Somerset Maugham a severe scolding. After breakfast our further acquaintance with the hotel started. Assum- ing my room to be typical, I shall try to describe it. It has an electric light bulb hanging from the rather high ceiling but has no running water. In- stead there is an enamel basin, rather shallow, and a jug, also a glass in which I found the soap nestling. It has two bureaus but no table nor chair; its bed has sheets and mosquito net but the sheets are dirty. No pictures, I am glad to say, hang on the bare wooden walls. It has two doors, one opening in from the hall and the other opening out onto a verandah, common to all the bedrooms. The verandah has a hole in it and a stairway down leads past a mango tree to a tin hut which is the bath-room and another, smaller, the hut which is the john. Scattered coconut palms are waving their fronds in the fairly strong breeze, and are planted sparsely up the hill behind the hotel. Following breakfast we called on the local Burns, Philip man and found that he has got his whole family in the business. There are three of them, bros; judging by the appearance their whisky consumption would be not less than a gallon per man per day. False-sounding excuses were made for the non- reply to our many letters, our mail was handed over to us and the business of trans-shipping cargo from the barge to Alagna, one of my jobs, was commenced. At the moment all the stuff for Portland Roads is on the ship, the things we need for our personal use while ashore are with us in our rooms, and three crates of collected specimens are waiting for shipment down to B-P, Cairns, so that has been done. Jetty Joe drew all his pay under the pretext of having bills to pay and for their own sakes, I hope his creditors get to know about it pretty soon as it is liquifying rapidly. We have just finished the mid-day meal, not notable for anything parti- cular in the way of food but enlivened by one of the waitresses consigning the other, in a loud voice which echoed over the diners' heads, to a certain place which I shall not set down here. It was not hell, not even bloody hell, but quite another place which I have not heard referred to since I left the artillery. Most of the guests took it in their stride but Van jumped as if somebody had struck a knife in him - the waitress who did the shouting was sitting at our table, next to him. Now I have to see the B-P "merchandise manager" who is not a member of the family and consequently has odds of three to one against him all the time; he was to try and obtain some special things for me. It has been a tiring night and half day; dingy as my sheets are and doubt- ful though the bed content may be, I think I shall sleep soundly tonight. Friday, 28 May 1948. Our evening last night turned out much better than might have been expected from first impressions of the town. We were invited to the pleasant home of Mr. and Mrs. Cadzow, it being Mr. C's birthday, and Len's also. There were several of the Torres Straits pilots there, cheery souls, mainly Scots, and all men who had sailed as masters for many years in these seas before becoming pilots. They are something of a unique group, seventeen in all, whose combined knowledge of the East Indian and Island waters could not be found in any set of volumes. "Electricity is turned off at midnight and we just beat it.