310 TROPIC DAYS 



the water and drank greedily, and, sitting up, spat 

 sullenly and with signs of disgust and contempt. What 

 comfort could cold water afford so repleted a stomach ? 



Having disdainfully spurned the remnants of the 

 kangaroo, he sat head between knees, grumbling against 

 fate. To him the fruitful and pleasant land was discon- 

 solate. A castaway, he had drifted on to its welcome 

 shores, and all that it could offer was loneliness, cold 

 water, the raw flesh of a strange animal, and denial of 

 the solace of sleep. Out of the depths of his misery 

 and dejection he called imperatively on his God, and 

 taking from the lining of his belt a thumb-sized purse 

 of netted silver, displayed a glorious pearl, which he 

 held aloft, and with an admixture of supplication and 

 imprecation proffered it to the Most High as grudging 

 ransom from a God-abandoned country. 



Who is there that delights not in the susceptible 

 purity of pearls ? The gem which symbolises virginal 

 placidity was like to be contaminated by the coarse 

 handling of the fretful, bargaining castaway. 



Did I lean forward acquisitively to accept it from the 

 noisome fingers, reluctant that so serene a prize should 

 be retained in so coarse a setting? 



The man started, for the votive offering had vanished, 

 and blasphemous lamentations and curses against the 

 Supreme Being, whom he abused for defrauding him 

 of fortune by trickery, shocked the quietude. Then 

 a spasm of religious fervour jerked him to his knees as 

 he patronised the Almighty for having accepted a 

 pledge for safe-conduct from death-like solitude. After 

 transports of impious piety, as uncouth and boisterous 

 as his struggles through the labyrinth of mangroves to 

 the purifying water, he sat bareheaded in the sun. 



Steamy heat distilled strong aromatic odours from 

 the myriad leaves ; languid flowers gave copiously and of 



