Mr. and Mrs. Robert Louis Stevenson on the bridge of the "Janet Nichol"...

It is always necessary to make certain elisions in a diary not meant for publication at the time of writing. For many reasons "The Cruise of the Janet Nichol " has been pruned rather severely. It was, originally, only intended to be a collection of hints to help my husband's memory where his own diary had fallen in arrears; consequently, it frequently happened that incidents given in my diary were re-written (to their great betterment), amplified, and used in his. I have deleted these as far as

Map to illustrate the cruise of the "Janet Nichol," April 11th-July 25th, 1890...

The Janet Nichol was an iron-screw cargo boat, topsail schooner rigged, of some six hundred tons gross. Her large, airy saloon and cabins were placed amidship on the main deck, with ports opening forward, the "trade room" being at the extreme aft. There was a comfortable bathroom and space enough on deck for exercise; but, for that matter, we might walk, sit, or sleep where we would. I have slept in the chart room and on the platform of the captain's bridge; though the after hatch, over which a