s the preparation of supper. His first idea was that
he would be obliged to consume the soup cold; but the prospect of such a
comfortless meal was so little to his taste that he began to look about
for some means of overcoming this disadvantage. What he wanted was a
vessel or a receptacle of some description in which he could heat the
soup and make it somewhat more palatable; and here he remembered having
passed during his morning's ramble on the beach a very large shell of
the species _Tridacna gigas_. He bethought himself of its whereabouts
whilst busily engaged in moving the tool-chest, etcetera, well up above
high-water mark; and having brought the locality to mind he took the tin
of soup in his hand and hastened along the beach. The shell was not
very far distant, and securing it he dragged it to a convenient position
and imbedded it in the soft dry sand, placing the tin of soup in it. He
next collected a quantity of dry twigs and brushwood, of which there was
no lack beneath the trees at a short distance from the beach. He also
collected a quantity of dry leaves, and with these and the brushwood he
built the constituents of a fire, which he next lit with the aid of a
match, a few of which he had taken the precaution to provide himself
with that morning before setting out His next task was to find a few
good large pebbles, of which there was a plentiful supply lying about
just where the sand and the soil proper met. Selecting about two dozen
of the largest he conveyed them to his fire and carefully arranged them
in its midst. He then proceeded to fill the shell--which was to serve
as his cooking pot--with salt water, no fresh-water being at hand; after
which he sat down and waited patiently until the stones which he had
laid in the fire should be sufficiently heated for his purpose. About
twenty minutes sufficed for this, when the hot stones were dropped one
after the other into the shell, by which means the water was very soon
brought to boiling point, and maintained at that temperature long enough
to thoroughly warm the soup, the tin of which he had, after some
difficulty, succeeded in opening with his axe. He then hurried back to
where he had left the wine and the bread, both of which he conveyed to
his extemporised kitchen, and there, with the aid of a small shell
carefully washed, made shift to consume the soup, washing it and the
bread down with a moderate draught of wine. This done, he kneeled down