Page:Travel letters from New Zealand, Australia and Africa (1913).djvu/16

 toward it. It isn't the pole that attracts the needle of the compass, but the Magnetic North. A good many degrees west of the pole there is a great magnetic mountain, and this, and not the pole, attracts the needle by which mariners guide their ships. The pole has no attraction whatever for the needle of the compass.

Stories told by the captain at dinner: In Australia there once lived a very rich and very eccentric old bachelor. A certain old maid was very anxious to capture him, and pursued him so steadily that there was considerable talk among the neighbors. On one occasion the old bachelor gave a reception at his home, and the old maid was one of the guests. During the evening, the old bachelor invited the old maid to walk on the terrace. She thought he was about to propose.

"You have a beautiful place here," she said to him, as they walked about in the moonlight.

"Yes," he said, "yet it lacks one thing. But for that, I would be a very fortunate and happy man."

The old maid thought she had him; that he could mean but one thing: the refining influence of a wife.

"And what is that?" she asked, coyly.

"Water," the old bachelor replied.

Australia is a very dry country, and the average Australian longs for water as you long for money The captain says dogs never do well at sea; that they soon get fits, and die. In order to have good health, a dog must have grass to eat. But cats do well at sea. When the captain was master of a sailing vessel, he owned a cat which made three voyages around the world with him. He tells of the smart tricks of this