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Coral Island
Roving
has
always
been
,
and
still
is
,
my
ruling
passion
,
the
joy
of
my
heart
,
the
very
sunshine
of
my
existence
.
In
childhood
,
in
boyhood
,
and
in
man
's
estate
I
have
been
a
rover
;
not
a
mere
rambler
among
the
woody
glens
and
upon
the
hill-tops
of
my
own
native
land
,
but
an
enthusiastic
rover
throughout
the
length
and
breadth
of
the
wide
,
wide
world
.
It
was
a
wild
,
black
night
of
howling
storm
,
the
night
on
which
I
was
born
on
the
foaming
bosom
of
the
broad
Atlantic
Ocean
.
My
father
was
a
sea-captain
;
my
grandfather
was
a
sea-captain
;
my
great-grandfather
had
been
a
marine
.
Nobody
could
tell
positively
what
occupation
his
father
had
followed
;
but
my
dear
mother
used
to
assert
that
he
had
been
a
midshipman
,
whose
grandfather
,
on
the
mother
's
side
,
had
been
an
admiral
in
the
Royal
Navy
.
At
any
rate
,
we
knew
that
as
far
back
as
our
family
could
be
traced
,
it
had
been
intimately
connected
with
the
great
watery
waste
.
Indeed
,
this
was
the
case
on
both
sides
of
the
house
;
for
my
mother
always
went
to
sea
with
my
father
on
his
long
voyages
,
and
so
spent
the
greater
part
of
her
life
upon
the
water
.
Thus
it
was
,
I
suppose
,
that
I
came
to
inherit
a
roving
disposition
.
Soon
after
I
was
born
,
my
father
,
being
old
,
retired
from
a
seafaring
life
,
purchased
a
small
cottage
in
a
fishing
village
on
the
west
coast
of
England
,
and
settled
down
to
spend
the
evening
of
his
life
on
the
shores
of
that
sea
which
had
for
so
many
years
been
his
home
.
It
was
not
long
after
this
that
I
began
to
show
the
roving
spirit
that
dwelt
within
me
.
For
some
time
past
my
infant
legs
had
been
gaining
strength
,
so
that
I
came
to
be
dissatisfied
with
rubbing
the
skin
off
my
chubby
knees
by
walking
on
them
,
and
made
many
attempts
to
stand
up
and
walk
like
a
man
--
all
of
which
attempts
,
however
,
resulted
in
my
sitting
down
violently
and
in
sudden
surprise
.
One
day
I
took
advantage
of
my
dear
mother
's
absence
to
make
another
effort
;
and
,
to
my
joy
,
I
actually
succeeded
in
reaching
the
doorstep
,
over
which
I
tumbled
into
a
pool
of
muddy
water
that
lay
before
my
father
's
cottage
door
.
Ah
,
how
vividly
I
remember
the
horror
of
my
poor
mother
when
she
found
me
sweltering
in
the
mud
amongst
a
group
of
cackling
ducks
,
and
the
tenderness
with
which
she
stripped
off
my
dripping
clothes
and
washed
my
dirty
little
body
!
From
this
time
forth
my
rambles
became
more
frequent
and
,
as
I
grew
older
,
more
distant
,
until
at
last
I
had
wandered
far
and
near
on
the
shore
and
in
the
woods
around
our
humble
dwelling
,
and
did
not
rest
content
until
my
father
bound
me
apprentice
to
a
coasting-vessel
and
let
me
go
to
sea
.
For
some
years
I
was
happy
in
visiting
the
seaports
,
and
in
coasting
along
the
shores
,
of
my
native
land
.
My
Christian
name
was
Ralph
;
and
my
comrades
added
to
this
the
name
of
Rover
,
in
consequence
of
the
passion
which
I
always
evinced
for
travelling
.
Rover
was
not
my
real
name
;
but
as
I
never
received
any
other
,
I
came
at
last
to
answer
to
it
as
naturally
as
to
my
proper
name
.
And
as
it
is
not
a
bad
one
,
I
see
no
good
reason
why
I
should
not
introduce
myself
to
the
reader
as
Ralph
Rover
.
My
shipmates
were
kind
,
good-natured
fellows
,
and
they
and
I
got
on
very
well
together
.
They
did
,
indeed
,
very
frequently
make
game
of
and
banter
me
,
but
not
unkindly
;
and
I
overheard
them
sometimes
saying
that
Ralph
Rover
was
a
"
queer
,
old-fashioned
fellow
.
"
This
,
I
must
confess
,
surprised
me
much
;
and
I
pondered
the
saying
long
,
but
could
come
at
no
satisfactory
conclusion
as
to
that
wherein
my
old-fashionedness
lay
.
It
is
true
I
was
a
quiet
lad
,
and
seldom
spoke
except
when
spoken
to
.
Moreover
,
I
never
could
understand
the
jokes
of
my
companions
even
when
they
were
explained
to
me
,
which
dulness
in
apprehension
occasioned
me
much
grief
.
However
,
I
tried
to
make
up
for
it
by
smiling
and
looking
pleased
when
I
observed
that
they
were
laughing
at
some
witticism
which
I
had
failed
to
detect
.
I
was
also
very
fond
of
inquiring
into
the
nature
of
things
and
their
causes
,
and
often
fell
into
fits
of
abstraction
while
thus
engaged
in
my
mind
.
But
in
all
this
I
saw
nothing
that
did
not
seem
to
be
exceedingly
natural
,
and
could
by
no
means
understand
why
my
comrades
should
call
me
"
an
old-fashioned
fellow
.
"
Now
,
while
engaged
in
the
coasting
trade
I
fell
in
with
many
seamen
who
had
travelled
to
almost
every
quarter
of
the
globe
;
and
I
freely
confess
that
my
heart
glowed
ardently
within
me
as
they
recounted
their
wild
adventures
in
foreign
lands
--
the
dreadful
storms
they
had
weathered
,
the
appalling
dangers
they
had
escaped
,
the
wonderful
creatures
they
had
seen
both
on
the
land
and
in
the
sea
,
and
the
interesting
lands
and
strange
people
they
had
visited
.
But
of
all
the
places
of
which
they
told
me
,
none
captivated
and
charmed
my
imagination
so
much
as
the
Coral
Islands
of
the
Southern
Seas
.
They
told
me
of
thousands
of
beautiful
,
fertile
islands
that
had
been
formed
by
a
small
creature
called
the
coral
insect
,
where
summer
reigned
nearly
all
the
year
round
,
where
the
trees
were
laden
with
a
constant
harvest
of
luxuriant
fruit
,
where
the
climate
was
almost
perpetually
delightful
;
yet
where
,
strange
to
say
,
men
were
wild
,
bloodthirsty
savages
,
excepting
in
those
favoured
isles
to
which
the
Gospel
of
our
Saviour
had
been
conveyed
.
These
exciting
accounts
had
so
great
an
effect
upon
my
mind
that
,
when
I
reached
the
age
of
fifteen
,
I
resolved
to
make
a
voyage
to
the
South
Seas
.
I
had
no
little
difficulty
,
at
first
,
in
prevailing
on
my
dear
parents
to
let
me
go
;
but
when
I
urged
on
my
father
that
he
would
never
have
become
a
great
captain
had
he
remained
in
the
coasting
trade
,
he
saw
the
truth
of
what
I
said
and
gave
his
consent
.
My
dear
mother
,
seeing
that
my
father
had
made
up
his
mind
,
no
longer
offered
opposition
to
my
wishes
.
"
But
,
oh
Ralph
!
"
she
said
on
the
day
I
bade
her
adieu
,
"
come
back
soon
to
us
,
my
dear
boy
;
for
we
are
getting
old
now
,
Ralph
,
and
may
not
have
many
years
to
live
.
"
I
will
not
take
up
my
readers
'
time
with
a
minute
account
of
all
that
occurred
before
I
took
my
final
leave
of
my
dear
parents
.
Suffice
it
to
say
that
my
father
placed
me
under
the
charge
of
an
old
messmate
of
his
own
,
a
merchant
captain
,
who
was
on
the
point
of
sailing
to
the
South
Seas
in
his
own
ship
,
the
Arrow
.
My
mother
gave
me
her
blessing
and
a
small
Bible
;
and
her
last
request
was
that
I
would
never
forget
to
read
a
chapter
every
day
and
say
my
prayers
,
which
I
promised
,
with
tears
in
my
eyes
,
that
I
would
certainly
do
.
Soon
afterwards
I
went
on
board
the
Arrow
,
which
was
a
fine
,
large
ship
,
and
set
sail
for
the
islands
of
the
Pacific
Ocean
.
