There, nine years of convict life was more than enough for me.

One day I found a canoe on the shore--a little Kanaka canoe--you know the type--a mere shapeless dug-out.

Hastily I loaded it with food--yam, taro, bread-fruit--I pushed it off into the sea--I embarked alone--I intrusted myself and all my fortunes to the Bon Dieu and the wide Pacific.

The Bon Dieu did not wholly justify my confidence.

It is a way he has--that inscrutable one.