illusions 



The Days of a Man \\qo^ 



remained for four days, until at last the courage of its com- 

 mander, Dumont d'Urville, mastered the tempest, and saved 

 the ship with her rich and immense collections. 



In the official report of the voyage by Quoy and 

 his colleague, Paul Gaimard, the incident, I find, is 

 said to have occurred off^ Tongatabu', the nearest of 

 the Friendly Islands. But Astrolabe Reef is closer to 

 Kandavu than to Tongatabu; it is also likely that on 

 closer acquaintance those insulaires feroces might 

 have proved gentle enough. 



We next left behind us Walpole Island, one of the 

 Loyalty group, a high-walled, apparently uninhabited 

 Marine mesu. Appfoaching Queensland, the captain and I 

 saw from the bridge what appeared through the glass 

 to be an overturned whaleboat, its slats or ribs show- 

 ing distinctly on a convex surface. The vessel was 

 therefore turned from its course, when suddenly the 

 outline changed and we plainly recognized the car- 

 cass of a humpback whale — Megaptera — floating 

 with inflated ribbed belly up. This reminds me of a 

 similar experience on the Nippon Maru in 1900, when 

 from the bridge we noticed in the distance, fifty 

 miles or more from land, a Japanese sampan bearing 

 two men. That time, also, we turned to the rescue, 

 but only to discover a pine log with two upright 

 branches. 



Leaving the Moana at Brisbane, capital of the state 

 of Queensland, I put down my overcoat on the empty 

 wharf. The moment my eyes were turned, however, 

 it disappeared. I do not lay this up against Australia, 

 but I could not help contrasting it with my experience 

 C 204 3 



