V ' A^nong the Sharks and Whales ' 415 



On one of these rocks the fleas, left by the 

 convicts thirty or forty years ago, rush out in red 

 hosts from the deserted cells (what awful irons were 

 lying in those cells when I saw them last !) and 

 almost tear the clothes off your back in their eager- 

 ness for another taste of human blood. On another 

 the rabbits (and wonderfully nasty rabbits they are 

 too) live in the trees like birds ; while on the third, 

 the sea-birds burrow underground like rabbits, and 

 croak horribly from below as you walk over their 

 heads.^ 



There it was that I remember watching from the 

 deck of the dear old Albatross, now crumbling on the 

 coral of the Ringold Islands, a cow whale, with her 

 calf and the bull, all playing together with evident 

 mutual enjoyment, the cow reclining with her little 

 one resting on one flipper, while with the other she 

 splashed Papa as he made dashes of affected ferocity 

 at his offspring ; and then standing on his head made 

 the water fly with his tail, apparently for the mere 

 fun of the thing. Just as pretty a bit of domesticity 

 as you could wish to see, and with tenderness and 

 affection enough about it to set up a dozen sexless 

 sister- or brotherhoods with those beautiful, but in 

 certain circles rather rare, virtues. 



We were blown off our anchorage that same 

 morning, but a month or two afterwards I met at 



1 The worst thing you can do is to land rabbits on desolate islands, 

 and goats are nearly as bad. One destroys the grass, and both the 

 trees. 



