AN ISLAND OF WATER 333 



rather destructive to former theories I have held. 

 If my island had suddenly appeared above the 

 surface, and if we granted a certain amount of 

 scientific license in the matter of soil ready to 

 hand, there would have accrued to it a surprising 

 number of living beings, judging even by the re- 

 stricted space observation from the deck of my 

 vessel and from the brief time period of ten 

 days. 



This point of view is thrilling to me, and some 

 day, when my physical activities become curtailed 

 by age, so that I shall be compelled to shift from 

 tennis to golf, from dancing to contemplation, 

 then I will give up active exploration and diving 

 and hunting, and settle down upon a barren desert 

 island. If one recently elevated by a submarine 

 earthquake or other terrestrial disturbance is not 

 available, I shall manufacture one myself out of 

 concrete or coral and sterilized earth, off some in- 

 teresting shore or bank of river, and day by day, I 

 shall watch the accidental populating — the simple 

 beginnings of the struggle for existence between 

 seed and seed, animal and animal. Then perhaps 

 I shall see a little more clearly into the meanings 

 of the apparent terrible confusions already in 

 fuU swing, which in great jungles so cobweb my 

 brain and mind. 



The possibilities which might result from the 

 ten days' emigration to my island, supposedly re- 

 cently emerged, are as follows (I have allowed 

 myself the liberty of considering that the three 

 drowned insects are still alive) ; 



