58 
JOSS-HOUSE. 
J 
bleaching in the sun. Tlie heat was intense, and 
with hundreds of gannets hovering over my head, I 
bathed in the view of the shoreless ocean. So bold 
grew the gannets as to swoop down upon me, and 
even to threaten my eyes ; and I left the limpid 
waves to j^elt them with lumj^s of coral, for stones 
. there were none. The dark dorsal fin of a shark 
appearing now and again above the surface of the 
water looked ominous and ugly ; so I dressed, and 
proceeded with my exj^loratioiis. 
I had not gone far before I captured a white 
egret, with a crest of two long feathers; and a 
gannet’s nest which I observed, I robbed of two 
light green, pointed eggs, as large as those of a 
duck. In the course of my scientific explorations I 
was stung by a little scoipion. When I had pro- 
ceeded some way, I came to a small joss-house filled 
by grateful mariners Avith offerings to the Chinese 
goddess of the sea, this mimic temple having been 
built by the poor fishers Avho come here. The 
fishermen who frequent these coasts catch turtle, 
and reap a plentiful haiwest from the fish-teeming 
