CHAPTEE XXIIl. 



THOMAS NED FINDS A PEARL OF PRICE. 



A search for novelties — How the world has changed — The great 

 jabiru — Pearls at Man-o'-war Bay — Exploring the coral caves 

 — In the grasp of a devilfish — A grave beneath the palms — 

 Friends come for me, and I leave paradise. 



One can not be a-field anywhere, in forest or by 

 shore, without seeing something worthy of observa- 

 tion and making note of it. The diflBculty with those 

 who are best at observing is, that they see too much — 

 more than they can readily communicate. 



Now, it must not be thought that, because I only 

 describe a few of the birds, beasts, and fishes that fell 

 in my way, there were not many more well worthy of 

 notice. This age, as you know, is very different from 

 that in which Crusoe lived, when every inhabitant of 

 a far-distant land was novel to English readers, when 

 the present school of naturalists was unknown, and 

 before even the great Linnaeus and Buffon had stirred 

 the world with the knowledge of their discoveries. 



Facts then unpublished, unknown, are now com- 

 mon property of the veriest tyros of science ; and as 

 for adventure, every boy has been sated with it in all 



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