UPS AND DOWNS 
tide from the leeward set us to windward of the next 
island, where there is a bad reef, and at 4 P.M., when 
we were running before the wind at the rate of six 
knots an hour, we ran right on to it. As morning 
broke we found we were on a shelving reef, and in a 
very undesirable predicament indeed. We threw out 
stone ballast, and after bumping about for four hours, 
and making many unsuccessful attempts to get the 
boat off, losing an anchor and chain in the process, 
we managed to get clear with the flood tide. Next 
night we got into Thursday Island, and, on examining 
the ship, we found that some sheets of copper had 
been torn off her. 
At Thursday Island we were both prostrated by a 
sharp attack of fever. This was the first time it had 
seized me since I came to New Guinea, and it is not 
unusual when a man has been living in the wilds for 
some time, and has escaped malaria, that he falls a 
victim to it almost as soon as he returns to compara- 
tive civilisation and better food. In spite of this 
drawback, we were successful in getting our collec- 
tions despatched, and at 8 P.m., on the 23rd of May, 
on a dark, dirty, and very gusty night, with a nasty 
sea running, we left Thursday Island, and steered our 
course for Hall Sound. In the vicinity of Bramble 
Cay—a dangerous sandbank, about 160 miles from 
Yule Island—we had our sails blown away, and were 
left in an almost helpless condition, only two small 
sails remaining. For the three following days we beat 
about in a heavy sea, not knowing exactly where we 
were, for we had not been able to take an observation 
since we left. 
207 
