THE "ISLANDER" AND THE "TASMAN" IN NAVUA RIVER, VITI LEVU ISLAND One hundred and fifty-six members of the National Geographic Society in the Fiji Islands will read with interest of the author's visit to their archipelago. at Port Moresby. I had been spending the evening ashore with friends, entertaining them with photographs and listening to tales of savages and cannibals. I started for my ship at about II o'clock, thinking what a wonderful thing it was to be alive. It was a dark night and the wind was blowing a gale right offshore. I got in my skiff and rowed out in the darkness, but there was no Islander. She had gone on a cruise by herself, leaving me on the beach with only a book of photographs under my arm! I spent a most uncomfortable night, but the next morning we found her anchored out to a reef. Apparently she had got by the reef without striking, but the anchor had hooked in the coral. When we pulled in the anchor, we found the stock broken out, which probably explains why the boat went adrift. From Port Moresby I sailed along the New Guinea shore and anchored the next day at Yule Island, in Halls Sound. It would have been a pleasure to linger in this wonderland of beautiful scenery and strange people, but I was expecting letters at Thursday Island; so, after a few days, I sailed out of Halls Sound and stood away for the Bligh Entrance to Torres Strait. I sailed from Yule Island on July 1. The day was fair, with a light wind. One wishes for good weather when passing through Torres Strait,* and at * See, also, "Geography and Some Explorers," by Joseph Conrad, in the NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE for March, 1924. THE WATER FRONT AT SUVA, CAPITAL OF THE FIJI ISLANDS At the left is the floating native market. On the rolling hills which encircle the harbor, 1,500 Europeans make their homes. this time of the year might expect it, but on the second day out the sky clouded up and the wind blew hard, raising a choppy sea in the shallow waters. I ran on under shortened sail, keeping a close watch for Bramble Cay and Darnley Island, but missed them in the darkness. Morning came with mist and rain, and for most of the day I was lost in a maze of reefs and sand cays. I had a chart chart of Torres Strait, but the weather was too thick for me to see the landmarks. Later the mist lifted and I made out my position to be between Bristow Island and the Warrior Reefs, but night was coming on when I began to beat out to gain the open water to the eastward, and Bristow Island and the sand cays faded out in the darkness. At 2 o'clock I hove to, but all night long I listened for the sound of breakers. While these dawas, which resemble dark blue plums, were very palatable, Captain Pidgeon says that he did not eat the entire basketful at one sitting. July 4 dawned with no land in sight, and off in the southeast a rain squall was approaching. I headed off to the south, looking for islands. Eventually I saw coconut trees showing through the mist and came up to Dalrymple Island. At noon I anchored in the lee of Rennel Island and made the acquaintance of Tom Savage and his family. They owned the island and turned out the best it afforded for me. I was tired with constant watching and the loss of two nights' sleep, so I lay all the next day and rested. When I was ready to sail, the islanders gathered sweet potatoes, green corn, and pumpkins for me to use on my journey. For two days more I sailed around among islands and reefs, on a wet, choppy sea, and came to Thursday Island. That same day the sky cleared, and for the rest of my stay in Torres Strait the weather was fine. DECIDES TO CIRCLE THE GLOBE At Thursday Island I decided to return to California by way of the Cape of Good Hope and the Panama Canal. The Islander was in need of repairs and paint, for she had scraped on many a reef since coming off the ways in the Fijis. I moved over to a quiet cove in the lee of Prince of Wales Island, beached the boat with the spring tide, and went to work. |