ON THE "LINE'' HOUND 8. 223 



about over its immense area wlien compared with the 

 crowded archipelagoes lying farther south and east. 



We could not see the reported land from the deck for 

 two hours after it was first seen from aloft, although the 

 odd spectacle of a scattered group of cocoa-nut trees 

 apparently growing out of the sea was for some time 

 presented to us before the island itself came into 

 view. It was Christmas Island, where the indefatigable 

 Captain Cook landed on December 24, 1777, for the 

 purpose of making accurate observations of an eclipse of 

 the • sun. He it was who gave to this lonely atoll the 

 name it has ever since borne, with characteristic modesty 

 giving his own great name to a tiny patch of coral which 

 almost blocks the entrance to the central lagoon. Here 

 we lay ** off and on " for a couple of days, while foraging 

 parties went ashore, returning at intervals with 

 abundance of turtle and sea-fowls' eggs. But any 

 detailed account of their proceedings must be ruthlessly 

 curtailed, owing to the scanty limits of space remaining. 



