vily. Again and again she
strikes, and I can hear the coral grinding through the bottom; the masts
go by the board, and the ship lies a helpless wreck on the reef. The
wind has fallen, and, being sheltered by another part of the reef, we
have no fear of her yet going to pieces. We wait anxiously for day, not
knowing whether we may not be near one of those cannibal islands from
whose inhabitants we may expect little mercy.

Another day has passed. We find a sand-bank some eighty yards across,
close inside the reef. On this, having saved one small boat, we are
landing our stores, and provisions, and arms.

We set to work to build a small vessel. The men labour diligently,
though they grumble. We, the officers, keep watch over the spirit
casks. Our great want is water. We dig deep, but the little we find is
brackish.

The schooner is finished, and Captain Fuller proposes steering for Port
Jackson, where there is a convict settlement.

The schooner is launched, but when we search for a passage to take her
over the reef, none is to be found. In vain we make the attempt.
Everywhere we are baffled. Some of our people almost go mad with
despair. I propose building a large flat-bottomed punt from the deck of
the ship, which can pass over the reef. All agree.

Our punt is almost completed. We see three objects in the distance,
which prove to be canoes. We are discovered, for they approach. They
are filled with black savages, who keep at a little distance, shouting
and flourishing their spears. We make signs of friendship, but they
still come on. We stand to our arms, and as they begin to hurl their
spears at us, we are compelled to fire; several fall. With loud howls
they paddle off to a distance, watching us. We have little doubt that
they will return.

The punt is completed and provisioned. We get her over the reef, and
try again to get the schooner across. In vain. We abandon her on the
reef. It is time to be away, for we see a fleet of canoes approaching
from the north. We hoist sail. The sea is smooth, and we glide rapidly
over it, but on come the canoes still faster. They may overwhelm us
with their numbers. Much of our powder has got wet. The men do not
know it though. Happily the savages catch sight of the schooner and our
tent left on the sand-bank. Their eagerness to secure the plunder from
the wreck overcomes every other consideration, and they dash over the
reef, and allow us to p