160 Oct. 15. Sent David and Charlie up a dismal creek in pouring rain while the skipper and his Mrs. and I hiked up to the center of settlement. Here we made a few purchases at the little store and indulged about two hours with the loyal royal servant before we could get away. On Saturday we stole a heavy iron plate from the junk pile at the wireless station that will do for a chain plate. We hope to get it drilled at the first establishment of a mining company located near Seroga Bay. Arrived back on board about 2 P.M. far too late to leave for Suloga, which is bound to be an onerous passage. I wrote some and read Johnson's "Table-Talk", being too chagrined to go out shooting. The boys got on- ly two birds - a white-eared kingfisher, again like the Solomon species that inhabits mangroves and river entries; and a crow, which is new, having a white iris and a considerable tail. This would be a hell of a place to hunt with at least a mile of fringing mangroves all around the land. Rain again during the night. Manuel and Teresa are still shaky. No one aft has had a dose of fluor, praise be accorded.