saw such a big one just now, such a big one, it quite frightened me; I
thought it was a bat attacking me."

A steersman who has captured a very curious specimen, carries it off
carefully to press between the leaves of his signal-book, like a
flower. Another sailor passing by, taking his small roast to the oven
in a mess-bowl, looks at him funnily and says:

"You had much better give it to me. I'd cook it!"




XXXII.


_August 24th_.

It is nearly five days since I have abandoned my home and
Chrysanthème.

Since yesterday we have had a storm of rain and wind--(a typhoon that
has passed or is passing over us). We beat to quarters in the middle
of the night to _lower the top-masts, strike the lower yards_, and
take every precaution against bad weather. The butterflies no longer
hover around us, but everything tosses and writhes overhead: on the
steep slopes of the mountain, the trees shiver, the long grasses bend
low as though in pain; terrible gusts rack them with a hissing sound;
branches, bamboo leaves, and earth are showered down like rain upon
us.