ethod of dealing
with such hard wood. On leaving the encampment the party returned to
the beach and came across in the cutter to the island, landing in the
nice little sheltered cove where the Doctor and I were established.

[Illustration: Drum from Murray Island]

Shortly afterwards the Doctor and Mr. Wright started across the hills
to meet the others, while Tom, Tab, and I returned, or rather tried to
get back, to the yacht in the gig and the cutter, but the tide had
fallen considerably, and the reef over which we had floated so gaily
on landing, was now showing all sorts of nasty little jagged heads and
rounded tops, both above and very near the surface of the water. It
was not without many bumps and jars, and a certain amount of risk of
finding ourselves firmly aground, that we fairly emerged into the open
sea; then a long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together against
the swiftly running current brought us once more alongside the good
ship 'Sunbeam.'

The rest of the party had still greater difficulty in getting off, for
the tide was falling every minute, and the dinghy had to be sent off
to pick them up one by one and transfer them to the gig. They seemed
to have enjoyed their walk very much, and described the island as
being covered with scrub. They saw a few animals which, though wild
now, have evidently once been domesticated, and actually stumbled upon
a family of little pigs. They climbed over the hill at the back of the
landing-place and descended to the windward shore, where they found a
stretch of beautiful firm white sand, extending for some distance
along the coast, indented by many pretty little coves and bays, in
which however there was not much flotsam and jetsam to be collected.
Mr. Wright and the Doctor had also been to the windward beach, but by
a different route, which led them through a valley full of
extraordinary ant-hills. From their description this place must have
looked like a veritable city of tombs, something like the view of
Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives. I was sorry they had not taken a
camera with them, although we had already taken photographs of
isolated ant-hills. The Doctor saw another snake quite as large as the
first, but it also escaped before he could get within striking
distance of it. Perhaps it was just as well it did escape, as we heard
afterwards that they are venomous, in fact deadly. There is no cure
for their bite, and though they get out of your way if th