Aa 
SHARKS. 17 
of natives’ mats, flapped against the mast and was not 
of the slightest use except to fan us. Happily the tide 
carried us toward the Island. I had an umbrella over 
my head, and now and then I wetted a handkerchief 
which was in my hat to keep my head cool. I felt that 
I was as red as a boiled lobster. I remember well how 
much I suffered from the heat that day. 
Now and then we could see the fins of sharks as they 
came near our canoe, and _a shudder went through us 
all, for we knew well what would become of us if by 
some misfortune we were to upset. 
A few days before a fine boy had been devoured by 
these monsters. The sight of a shark when I am in a 
canoe always makes me shudder. I fear a shark more 
than I do snakes. Which is saying a great deal! 
How glad I was when I landed and rested myself un- 
der the shade of the forest which grew to the very water’s 
edge. I quenched my thirst in a little brook which rose 
in the interior of the Island, and oh! how much better I 
felt afterward. I had to drink out of a large leaf which 
I folded in the form of a cornucopia. 
I saw on the sands what I knew to be the foot-prints . 
of men; we followed them and at last came to the very 
small village of which I have spoken to you. The men 
with me were Mpongwes, and belonged to the same tribe 
as the people of the Island. 
The King and his people at first stared at me, but a 
word or two from my men made every thing right. 
The luggage was landed from our canoe, the canoe 
was then hauled on to the main-land and put under the 
shade of the trees, and we were ready to rest, for we 
were all very tired and I felt rather feverish. 
