t considerable quantities of fish had been stranded and left to
perish by the sudden upheaval, and the appearance of them caused me a
slight spasm of alarm on the score of our health, which was only
partially dissipated by the fact, to which Gurney directed my attention,
that already great flocks of sea birds had appeared and were busily
devouring them.

We remained aloft for more than an hour, studying the reef and, so far
as I was concerned, making copious notes and a rough sketch map of it in
my notebook, and then descended to the deck, having come to the
conclusion that the only thing to be done was to make a systematic
exploration of the reef, and especially of the channels, by means of one
of the boats.

For this purpose we selected the larger of the two quarter boats, a very
handsomely modelled craft of twenty-six feet long by six feet beam, with
a keel nearly eight inches deep in midships, and rigged as a fore-and-
aft schooner. She had been the late captain's fancy boat, used by him
for sailing ashore from open roadsteads, and was fitted with air-
chambers forward and aft and under each of the thwarts, thus being
converted into a sort of unsinkable lifeboat. She was therefore in
every respect eminently suitable for the duty upon which we proposed to
employ her.

I was rather afraid that, upon learning our purpose, Grace Hartley might
express a desire to accompany us; and this would be somewhat awkward, in
view of the rough work which might possibly lie before us; but to my
relief she expressed herself as perfectly content to remain aboard
alone, upon being assured that no harm could possibly happen to the
ship. We therefore bent the ensign on to the main signal halyards,
showed her how to hoist it, and directed her to run it up to the main
truck in the event of anything occurring to render our immediate return
to the ship necessary. Then, having hastily stowed away a few biscuits
and a piece of cold salt beef in the boat's stern locker, and placed a
small breaker of fresh water in her for ballast, we lowered her to the
water, brought her to the gangway, rigged her, and got away about six
bells in the forenoon watch, Grace waving her farewells to us from the
poop.

We decided to begin our exploration by examining the channel which
opened on the south side of the basin, as that was the widest and the
most promising of the four. Accordingly, upon leaving the ship, we
brought the boat close to the wind on