of a tunic,--and a round black straw hat. He had
no jacket, having thrown it off just before we were cast into the sea;
but this was not of much consequence, as the climate of the island proved
to be extremely mild; so much so, indeed, that Jack and I often preferred
to go about without our jackets. Peterkin had also a pair of white
cotton socks, and a blue handkerchief with white spots all over it. My
own costume consisted of a blue flannel shirt, a blue jacket, a black
cap, and a pair of worsted socks, besides the shoes and canvass trousers
already mentioned. This was all we had, and besides these things we had
nothing else; but, when we thought of the danger from which we had
escaped, and how much worse off we might have been had the ship struck on
the reef during the night, we felt very thankful that we were possessed
of so much, although, I must confess, we sometimes wished that we had had
a little more.

While we were examining these things, and talking about them, Jack
suddenly started and exclaimed--

"The oar! we have forgotten the oar."

"What good will that do us?" said Peterkin; "there's wood enough on the
island to make a thousand oars."

"Ay, lad," replied Jack, "but there's a bit of hoop iron at the end of
it, and that may be of much use to us."

"Very true," said I, "let us go fetch it;" and with that we all three
rose and hastened down to the beach. I still felt a little weak from
loss of blood, so that my companions soon began to leave me behind; but
Jack perceived this, and, with his usual considerate good nature, turned
back to help me. This was now the first time that I had looked well
about me since landing, as the spot where I had been laid was covered
with thick bushes which almost hid the country from our view. As we now
emerged from among these and walked down the sandy beach together, I cast
my eyes about, and, truly, my heart glowed within me and my spirits rose
at the beautiful prospect which I beheld on every side. The gale had
suddenly died away, just as if it had blown furiously till it dashed our
ship upon the rocks, and had nothing more to do after accomplishing that.
The island on which we stood was hilly, and covered almost everywhere
with the most beautiful and richly coloured trees, bushes, and shrubs,
none of which I knew the names of at that time, except, indeed, the cocoa-
nut palms, which I recognised at once from the many pictures that I had
seen of them before I l