SOME HARBOUR FISHES 161 



beauty of the living coral grouped in shrubs and 

 groves on the outer reef barrier, covered with 

 polyps of brilliant colours, and told us that 

 between the shrubs roamed gorgeous fish, and 

 yellow and crimson prawns, while at the bottom 

 were purple sea-urchins and exquisite shells 

 carried along by their spotted tenants. These, 

 however, and the semi-nude darkies, land-crabs, 

 and cocoanut-groves, he said, constituted all there 

 was to see, and he complained that the shipping 

 agents had given him a very indifferent dinner and 

 breakfast. 



The question was, how to get through the long 

 day, until the coaling was finished ? We made up 

 our minds to fish. 



Of course, there were neither hooks nor lines on 

 board. Luckily, I happened to have four sets of 

 tackle, and of these I lent a couple to some third- 

 class passengers, and one to the mosquito-bitten 

 doctor. The only procurable bait was mutton from 

 the chilled-room, while the tackle was the ordinary 

 sea paternoster with extra big leads. 



My line seemed to run out a tremendous depth, 

 and I waited patiently for a nibble, but without 

 success. I then procured the " innards " of a fowl, 

 and made a fresh essay. Eureka ! A sharp tug, 

 and up came one of the most beautiful fish I had 



ii 



