CORAL ISLES 205 



soap do not agree, and, lacking lather, it was difficult 

 to maintain a civilised standard of bodily cleanliness. 

 Shaving became almost a lost art among us, and in a 

 week the young men, who had landed on Mast Head 

 with smooth cheeks and chins, were bearded. 



When the Endeavour's skipper sent water ashore 

 to replenish our cans, we enjoyed liberal draughts, but 

 in a day or two returned to the old order. Only once, 

 however, did we actually feel the need of water, when 

 the cans were nearly all empty, and there was no sign 

 of the steamer. Half in jest and half in earnest, we 

 discussed the possibility of making a condenser. Next 

 morning the Endeavour was lying off the reef, and 

 we sent three cheers ringing across the sea. They 

 were not heard, of course, but doubtless, through his 

 glass the captain discerned us grouped upon the 

 beach. The lack of permanent fresh water on the 

 island was beneficial in one respect. We were not 

 worried by mosquitoes ; indeed, there were few pests 

 of any kind, unless the small crabs, which burrowed 

 in the sand beneath our blankets, could be classed as 

 such. 



At leisure after camp-making on that first long 

 day at Mast Head, we began to explore the islet. We 

 walked around it on the sunlit beach, and crossed in 

 different directions through the jungle. A series of 

 storm beaches, fringed with She-oaks, and a stratum 

 of coral-sand-rock, were of special interest. The She- 

 oaks formed a girdle, broken here and there, and be- 

 hind them grew bushes of Sophora, Turenefortia, Pan- 

 danus Palms, and smaller plants, while the centre of 

 the islet was occupied chiefly by Pisonia trees. In 

 the forest were glades and avenues, where the sun- 

 light gleamed on a carpet of dead leaves; white- 

 flowered creepers [Ipomsea] festooned the tree trunks. 

 Some of the Pisonias rose to a height of nearly sixty 

 feet, and their spreading branches, strung with broad 

 leaves, afforded grateful shade. A species of Ficus, 



