visions, and sufficient water for the voyage of
over 2,500 miles, that being about the distance from New Caledonia to
Rockhampton or Cooktown. The run between New Caledonia and Australia
is dead to leeward before the trade-winds.

[Illustration: The Last Mill in Australia]

[Illustration: Port Darwin]

CHAPTER XIX.

_PRINCE OF WALES' ISLAND._

_Tuesday, August 23rd._--I had a better night, and awoke feeling much
refreshed. Most of the party went early ashore to see what this
uninteresting town is like. Tom spent a busy morning with Mr. Milman,
going into statistics, fortification questions, and so forth. In the
afternoon we steamed across to the pearl-shell station on Prince of
Wales' Island, managed by Mr. Hall. He has a nice bungalow there, and
seems very busy and happy in his occupation, contriving to keep good
friends with all the 'boys,' as the coloured labourers from Manilla,
China, the South Sea Islands, and other places are called. These
'boys' are now busily occupied in unloading the shells from the boats
and cleaning and preparing them for the market, which latter process
we had come to see to-day. First we went to a small shed where about
half a dozen 'boys' were employed, some in chopping and scraping the
shells in order to reduce their weight, whilst others were washing and
cleaning them with brushes made from the outside of the cocoa-nut
husk, which, when split into strips, is excellent for the purpose, as
it scrapes and polishes the shells without scratching them. The boxes
stood ready outside for packing, each holding about two cwt. of
shells, valued at 11_l._ per cwt. The number of shells varies
according to their size, from sixty to sixty-five fitting into each
box. On a table in the middle of the shed the shells were being
quickly packed and nailed up, ready for exportation. They are just now
higher in price, on account of the disaster on the north-west coast of
Western Australia, which has temporarily crippled that rival station.
From the cleaning and packing shed we went to another, where the
diving apparatus is kept. This was sent out from England, and is
exactly the same as that in use everywhere, being made to fit tightly
round the ankles, wrists, and neck, with an immense superfluity of
space in the middle to hold a storage of air. Besides this heavy
dress, divers wear a belt with a large knife stuck into it, to cut
themselves free from any obstacle their ropes may get foul of, and