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216 shortly after leaving the island of Tooroona, where they had remained some time. It appears that they were treated to a series of entertainments by the people of the island, and were awake attending on these festivals during the whole of their stay. On leaving, they immediately betook themselves to their beds, in the hope of having a long sleep, and, alas! that hope was only too terribly realized. There was just the one shock, and she disappeared, whither, no one can tell, but it is believed that she was drawn underneath partly by the action of a whirlpool. However, be that as it may, no trace of her has ever been found. Of course several spars of the lighter kinds of wood, that doubtless broke off after she struck, have been recovered, and to these the survivors clung till they were seen and rescued."

"How many?" I asked.

"Only four," was the nervous response. "Four out of that vast concourse. The exact number will never be known," he continued meditatively; "but it is believed that about ten thousand persons perished during that lamentable hour. This dreadful event for a time paralyzed the whole nation, and for a long period there was no expedition to the Southern Sea, as it is sometimes called. A more