the organ-point of surf. And the thought of this depopulated

capital, this protracted thread of annular island with its crest of

coco-palms and fringe of breakers, and that tranquil inland sea

that stretched before me till it touched the stars, ran in my head

for hours with delight.

So long as I stayed upon that isle these thoughts were constant. I

lay down to sleep, and woke again with an unblunted sense of my

surroundings. I was never weary of calling up the image of that

narrow causeway, on which I had my dwelling, lying coiled like a

serpent, tail to mouth, in the outrageous ocean, and I was never

weary of passing--a mere quarter-deck parade--from the one side to

the other, from the shady, habitable shores of the lagoon to the

blinding desert and uproarious breakers of the opposite beach. The

sense of insecurity in such a thread of residence is more than

fanciful. Hurricanes and tidal waves over-leap these humble

obstacles; Oceanus remembers his strength, and, where houses stood

and palms flourished, shakes his white beard again over the barren

coral. Fakarava itself has suffered; the trees immediately beyond

my house were all of recent replantation; and Anaa is only now

recovered from a heavier stroke. I knew one who was then dwelling

in the isle. He told me that he and two ship captains walked to

the sea beach. There for a while they viewed the oncoming

breakers, till one of the captains clapped suddenly his hand before

his eyes and cried aloud that he could endure no longer to behold

them. This was in the afternoon; in the dark hours of the night

<<BackPagesTo menuNext>>