his ship, and we were all regarded with much curiosity by the crew, and eagerly questioned by those who spoke English as to who and what we were.
My companions were much interested with the ship, and readily answered the questions put to them respecting their country and their mode of living. But there was not much time for conversation, as the ship still continued on its course and would soon have carried them to an inconvenient distance from home. So taking an affectionate leave of me, and expressing a hope that I would again come among them when I had tired of the terrestrial life I was going to enter on again, they dropped over the side of the ship and disappeared beneath the water, to the no small astonishment of the captain and crew.
"Potztausend!" cried the captain, "I denk I was not wrong to take you for seals, for you are in ze vater like fishes. You must be mermans at ze least."
"Well," I said, "you are nearer the mark now."
When I told him of the great country, with its numerous inhabitants within the enclosure of the coral-reef, he would hardly believe me, and said that these islands were marked in the chart as uninhabited, and so dangerous of approach that it was believed that many vessels had been wrecked in endeavouring to effect a landing there.
I confirmed his information on this point, and told him a good deal about the manners and customs of the Colymbians. I related to him how I had been wrecked, by what strange luck I alone had been saved, and how, after days and nights spent on the open sea
