204 IN AUSTRALIAN WILDS 



westward. It was 3 p.m. when she arrived off the 

 reef, and the tide was ebbing fast. We disembarked 

 from the boats on the outer edge of the reef. Heavy 

 boxes, water cans and other baggage had to be carried 

 across the causeway of dead coral, and after an hour 

 of this work, some of us felt like the penitent who 

 forgot to boil the peas that he was ordered to place 

 in his shoes. The men with stout sea boots suffered 

 only fatigue, but others wore rubber-shoes, and felt 

 jagged coral through the soles, while in the shallow 

 lagoon coral scratched and bruised their legs. The 

 seamen worked with a will but for their help we 

 would have been in a worse plight and it was dark 

 when they bade us good-bye. All the baggage was 

 piled on the island beach. But our troubles had not 

 ended ; before the tents could be pitched, a storm 

 burst. Rain fell in torrents, and, drenched to the 

 skin, we erected the large tent, which became both 

 store-house and dwelling. Our blankets were damp, 

 but amid bulging sacks, boxes and portmanteaux we 

 made ourselves fairly comfortable, and smoked and 

 yarned till after midnight. The rain continued, and 

 its tattoo on the canvas finally lulled us to sleep. 



The dawn was bright and fragrant, and it was 

 with rising spirits that we emerged from a dripping 

 tent into sunlight. There was work for all hands 

 during the forenoon, and when the cook beat his 

 dinner gong (a biscuit tin) we felt that a meal had 

 been earned. The tents were pitched in a grove of 

 Casuarinas on one of the raised beaches; a fireplace 

 was built of coral-sand-rock and "nigger-heads" ; and 

 when the Union Jack fluttered from a sapling, the 

 camp was fully established. Our stock of flour, 

 sugar, tea, tinned meats, and so forth was sufficient 

 for a month; but the water supply was limited, and 

 as there was not even a pool on Mast Head, we had to 

 be careful. We washed in the sea, a handful of fine 

 coral sand being used for scrubbing. Salt water and 



