Mrs. Lavarello is suffering from a bruised leg caused by a fall on the rocks when fishing. We urged upon her the need of resting it, but she thought she could not because of her work. It is now so painful she is obliged to keep it up almost entirely. I shall try to see her each day. This afternoon Graham and I went for a long walk along the shore. Rain coming on we tried to scale the cliff, but had to come down and return by the shore, the wind and rain beating in our faces. By the time we got home we were wet through, but felt all the better for the outing.
Tuesday, October 30.—A very wet day. No Women's Meeting.
Wednesday, October 3l.—We had been saying it looked as if the month were going out without our seeing a ship, when to-day one appeared just after school. Some of the men were out in a boat fishing, but were signalled to by a fire being lit. They got back quickly, and the boats started off by about two o'clock. It was bitterly cold and the sea rough. Another ship was seen in the afternoon.
Thursday, November 1.—The men returned last night. The ship was a French one bound for Adelaide. They were not able to get any flour, but got ship biscuits, a good quantity of rice, which, however, has weevils in it, and a little coffee. Mrs. Repetto came in this evening with some of the biscuits. I said I could not take them, but she would not hear of "no."
To-day Glass and Tom Rogers have been putting up some small gates, made by the latter, at the two entrances of the pathway leading to the front of the house. They had to build up a part of one entrance with large square stones; wood is scarce so the gates have to be small. With them we feel much more private. Henry has given us some green paint of quite a nice shade for the outside window-frames to match the green gates. The house is beginning to have quite a respectable appearance.
I fear Mrs. Lavarello will be laid up some time with her leg. Charlotte
Swain bathes it three times a day. Mrs. Lavarello is a sister of John
Glass. She has been very kind to us in constantly sending fish and eggs.
We had a second gale the other day which blighted the potatoes, in fact, quite cut them down. But the men say that with the rain which has fallen since they will come on again. The flowers are already reviving.
[Illustration: EARLY MORNING FROM THE WEST, SHOWING SNOW IN CREVASSE, NEAR
PEAK]
Fourteen cattle died last week due to the wet and cold, making the number of deaths three hundred and seventy.
Thursday, November 8.—We were knocked up yesterday morning soon after five by Repetto, who came to tell us that a steamer was in sight and that they were going off to it immediately. In about ten minutes he was here again for the letters. I was in my dressing-gown finishing a letter to A——. Graham was finishing another to his sister and had to run down to the boat with it. He was just in time, but had to wade into the water to hand it in. The steamer had borne down upon the settlement very rapidly. Graham so regretted he hadn't gone when he saw how close it had come in. We felt we had perhaps lost an opportunity of a passage to the Cape we might not get again, but really there was not time to dress and be off. Graham worked off his disappointment by polishing away at the boots and shoes. The men were soon back. The captain said he could only wait half-an-hour, but stayed an hour. He let them have 300 lbs. of flour and some other goods. Repetto was able to get some of the things we asked him to try for, namely, bacon, lemons, a ten-pound tin of butter and some apple-rings. The captain sent his kind regards and sent me a special offering of tea and sugar. We have given the tea to the people as they had none. The steamer was bound for Durban, and the captain, who was here the year before, said he hoped to return in a month, and if he did would bring more flour for the people. The islanders had to pay in cash. A passenger on board presented them with a sovereign to buy food. The captain would not let us pay for anything. Two and a half years later when we arrived home in England we heard of another kind deed of the captain. He had kindly taken charge of the letters to post at Durban, and noticing one bearing our name most kindly sent to the address copies of some photographs which he had that morning taken of the island. The fine view facing this page is one of them. We have been scanning the papers and have obtained a considerable amount of information from them. The steamer hailed from a Cumberland port, and in a Maryport paper was a speech of F——'s at Workington in support of the Liberal candidate. In the same paper we read with regret of the death of Sir Wilfrid Lawson. In another was an account of the fires on the Malvern Hills, and in a third a long article on the "Welcome." [Footnote: A Restaurant and Home for girls, Jewin Street, London.] The sugar was done up in a Birmingham paper from which, however, we did not extract much beyond the attempt on the Russian Premier's life. We feel we have come quite in touch with the world again.