December 18 Wednesday – In a Dec. 20 letter to Sue Crane, Livy wrote that she made two social calls on families in Sydney, only to discover that everyone was just about to leave for Europe or England. Sam likely visited the Sydney Botanical Garden, and may have gone fishing at Bondi, where he heard several stories of sharks. His notebook entry gives several anecdotes about watches, money, and even prayer books that people found in sharks. Sam felt these were “doubtful.” Sam claimed to have caught one on the line:

Caught one myself, but he thought he caught me — & as he was doing most of the pulling I conceded the argument & let go [Shillingsburg, At Home 185; “Down Under” 31].