FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50  
51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   >>   >|  
a big steamer like this. "Flying fish seem to fly when disturbed by big fishes, or, possibly, by the commotion that a vessel creates in going through the water. There is a good deal of dispute as to how long the flying fish can stay out of water, and the longest time I have heard any one give to it is thirty seconds. Some say that the flying fish can stay in the air only while its wings are wet, but that is a point on which I do not care to give any opinion, for the simple reason that I don't know." Ned and Harry had kept the nautical instruments which they carried over the deserts of Northern Africa, and they amused themselves by taking daily observations and calculating the ship's position. Sometimes they were wrong, and sometimes they were right, Ned naively remarking that "the wrongs didn't count." The first officer of the ship gave them some assistance in their nautical observations, and, altogether, they got along very well. Our friends made the acquaintance of some of their fellow-passengers and found them very agreeable. The majority were residents of Australia or New Zealand, who had been on visits to England and were now returning home. The youths learned a great deal concerning the country whither they were bound, and the goodly portion of the information they received was of practical value to them. They made copious notes of what they heard, and some of the information that they gleaned will appear later in these pages. In due time they sighted the coast of Australia at its western extremity, known as Cape Leeuwin, but the sight was not especially picturesque, as the mountains around the cape are of no great height. After passing Cape Leeuwin, the steamer held her course steadily to the west, gradually leaving the shore out of sight. She was passing along the front of what is called the Great Australian Bight, an indentation in the land twelve hundred miles long, and bounded on the north by a region of desolation. "It is a desolate coast," said one of the passengers to Harry, "and is so destitute of water that no settlements have or can be made upon it. Mr. Eyre, who was afterwards governor of Jamaica, endeavored to explore that coast, and had a terrible time of it. He was an entire year making the journey of twelve hundred miles, and suffered the most terrible hardships." CHAPTER III. A LAND OF CONTRADICTIONS--TRANSPORTATION TO AUSTRALIA. "How long is it since Mr. Eyre made this
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   26   27   28   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49   50  
51   52   53   54   55   56   57   58   59   60   61   62   63   64   65   66   67   68   69   70   71   72   73   74   75   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

nautical

 

Leeuwin

 
passengers
 

observations

 

passing

 

steamer

 

information

 

hundred

 

twelve

 

flying


Australia
 

terrible

 

practical

 

sighted

 

height

 

steadily

 

mountains

 

western

 

picturesque

 

copious


gleaned

 

extremity

 

desolation

 

making

 

journey

 

suffered

 

entire

 

Jamaica

 

endeavored

 
explore

hardships

 
CHAPTER
 

AUSTRALIA

 

TRANSPORTATION

 

CONTRADICTIONS

 

governor

 

Australian

 

indentation

 

called

 

gradually


leaving

 

bounded

 

destitute

 

settlements

 

region

 

desolate

 

friends

 
opinion
 

simple

 

reason