Page:Rambles in Australia (IA ramblesinaustral00grewiala).pdf/315

 The voyage within the Barrier Reef will always be one of the most beautiful in the world. Once inside the Coral Sea, to awake in the morning and go on deck is to dream an exquisite dream. Here is halcyon weather, the heat of the sun tempered by light airs off the water, and seas of an indescribable translucent turquoise green rippling past among innumerable islands. One after another they appear in the distance, shadowy and vague as clouds; slowly they take shape like brown uncut opals; a nearer view discloses sandy coves, grassy slopes, pine trees and forest. They grew more and more numerous, and, as the day closed in beneath plum-coloured clouds, the soft light lay gently and hazily upon them, till the sun sank in a sky of vivid orange. The charm of this wonderful passage never palls, for its variety is endless. Sometimes the austere, dark mountainous shore is visible, with columns of smoke upon it, native fires as Captain Cook saw them two hundred years ago, for they are still used as signals.

The sea is rich in all kinds of life for those who care to look for it, and we were fortunate in having on board an accomplished naturalist, who, in shirt-sleeves for coolness, and a large-brimmed hat, looking like a sort of drawing-room pirate, sat all day in the bows searching the clear blue