Page:The Boy Travellers in Australasia.djvu/193

Rh the position of certain stars, and its second appearance is at the full moon, between the twentieth and twenty-fifth of November.

"The worms are far more numerous in the November than in the October appearance, and hence the October one is called the 'Little Balola,' while the November coming is the 'Great Balola.' At the great festival the sea is covered in some places to the depth of several inches with these worms, which are red, green, and brown in color, and form a writhing and wriggling mass not altogether pleasant to look at. They come a little past midnight, and when the sun rises they sink down out of sight and remain there until the next year."

"How curious!" exclaimed the youth, in astonishment.



"No one has been able to explain the phenomenon," was the reply, "nor tell how and where the worm passes the rest of his time. Why he appears on these occasions and no other, or why he appears at all, nobody has yet found out, and you may be sure the worms won't give up the secret.

"The natives go out in their boats in great numbers; every native boat that can float is occupied, and the Europeans go along at the same