itch soars out of the realms of science into the realms of philosophy and could only be described in a long poem such as the "Divine Comedy", so I will not take the matter up here. Saturday, December 10th. Aikiki. On Saturday morning without shifting our anchorage we collected the island of Aikiki, only a stone's throw from Momulufu. There was nothing to differentiate it ornithologically from Momulufu, producing only more specimens of the same birds that we had gotten the day before. There was, however, a tremendous assem- blage of pigeons. They seem to come over from Short- land Island in the early morning to feed, stay until about ten o'clock, and melt away two by two to the eastward again. Sunday, December 11th to Saturday, December 17th. Faisi, Shortland Island. We weighed anchor from Aikiki after breakfast on Sunday and sailed through a rough sea down the northwest coast of Shortland Island, arriving at Faisi in the afternoon. Our friend Pennock, the planter of Kalia, was the first person in evidence, and he put off in his dinghy to tell us that the steamer was expected that afternoon. Faisi is one of the more picturesque places in the Solomons. It is a perfect natural harbor, pro- tected from all winds and weathers. It is the home of the Shortland Island Plantation, a huge tract of land owned and operated by the Burns Philp & Co. under a nom d'appel. The entire harbor is encircled