I let it fall from weakness, and it dropped on to hair which I
knew must be that of a beard, which set me wondering, for it had been my
fashion to go clean-shaven. How, then, did I come by a beard? I looked
about me and saw that I was lying on the deck of a ship, yes, of the
_Blanche_ itself, for I knew the shape of her stern, also certain knots
in one of the uprights of the deck-house that formed a rude resemblance
to a human face. Nothing of this deck-house was left now, except the
corner posts between which I lay, and to the tops of these was lashed a
piece of canvas as though to keep off the sun and the weather.
With difficulty I lifted my head a little and looked about me. The
bulwarks of the ship had gone, but some of the uprights to which
the planks had been nailed remained, and between them I perceived
tall-stemmed trees with tufts of great leaves at the top of them, which
trees seemed to be within a few yards of me. Bright-winged birds flew
about them and in their crowns I saw apes such as the sailors used to
bring home from Barbary.
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