192 A NATURALIST ON DESERT ISLANDS. 



A host of pea-captains, whose names once struck 

 terror wherever they sailed, must have passed by 

 these wild and lonely piles of granite, and marked 

 them down as likely enough spots to hide their booty. 

 Drake, and Raleigh, and Duddeley, bowling down to 

 the Spanish main with the fair Trade-winds, had 

 perhaps looked upon them. Dampier, Swan, and 

 the never-to-be-forgotten Morgan, had almost certainly 

 done so. 



There is a belief, and we had heard of it as far away 

 as the Bermudas, that these islets do indeed contain 

 hidden treasure ; but whether true or not, no islands 

 could be more suggestive of this ever-fascinating craze. 

 Surely, somewhere among those boulders and cactus- 

 strewn declivities, rich spoil must be lying — ^heavily iron- 

 clasped boxes, mouldering slowly away in the hot dry- 

 deposits of phosphate, and full of Spanish doubloons, 

 jewel-studded chalices and priceless treasures from looted 

 churches. Iguanas have basked for generations, in undis- 

 turbed possession of the hot dry rocks, which alone mark 

 its resting place. Boobies in countless hundreds, have 

 scraped out shallow nests in the mould which covers it. 

 The " prickly pear " has long ago sent down its tough 

 roots to grope and twist among the rich relics of 

 Carthagena or Panama cathedrals. 



The more we stared, the more convinced we felt, that 

 such must needs be the case. No self-respecting pirate, 

 anxious to play the game, could have possibly passed 

 them by, without immediately seeing that these islands 

 were simply made for him. 



So in the blazing midday heat, we mused and pondered 

 and gradualJy grew more sleepy. No one had spoken 

 a word for at least ten minutes. My pipe seemed to 

 have finally rssolved to go out. There was a faint, 

 languorous murmur of insects in the hot drowsy air ; 

 and I was beginning to wonder if whisky, after all, was 

 a good thing to drink in the Tropics. Across the sunlit 

 sea, the islets were dancing in the shimmering heat. 



