already broken, so that they had nothing to do but sit
down to lunch.

"Here is one," said Kathy, handing a nut to Nigel, "that has got no meat
yet in it--only milk. Bore a hole in it and drink, but see you bore in
the right hole."

"The right hole?" echoed the youth, "are some of them wrong ones?"

"Oh yes, only one of the three will do. One of our crawbs knows that and
has claws that can bore through the husk and shell. We calls him
cocoa-nut crawb."

"Indeed! That is strange; I never heard before of a crab that fed on
cocoa-nuts."

"This one do. He is very big, and also climbs trees. It goes about most
at night. Perhaps you see one before you go away."

The crab to which Kathy referred is indeed a somewhat eccentric
crustacean, besides being unusually large. It makes deep tunnels in the
ground larger than rabbit burrows, which it lines with cocoa-nut fibre.
One of its claws is developed into an organ of extraordinary power with
which it can break a cocoa-nut shell, and even, it is said, a man's
limb! It never takes all the husk off a cocoa-nut--that would be an
unnecessary trouble, but only enough off the end where the three eyelets
are, to enable it to get at the inside. Having pierced the proper eye
with one of its legs it rotates the nut round it until the hole is large
enough to admit the point of its great claw, with which it continues the
work. This remarkable creature also climbs the palm-trees, but not to
gather nuts; that is certain, for its habits have been closely watched
and it has been ascertained that it feeds only on fallen nuts. Possibly
it climbs for exercise, or to obtain a more extended view of its
charming habitat, or simply "for fun." Why not?

All this and a great deal more was told to Nigel by Kathleen, who was a
bit of a naturalist in her tendencies--as they sat there under the
graceful fronds of the palm-trees admiring the exquisite view, eating
and drinking cocoa-nuts.

"I suppose you have plenty of other kinds of food besides this?" said
Nigel.

"Oh yes, plenty. Most of the fish in our lagoon be good for eating, and
so also the crawbs, and we have turtle too."

"Indeed! How _do_ you catch the turtle? Another nut, please.--Thank
you."

"The way we gets turtle is by the men diving for them and catching them
in the water. We has pigs too--plenty, and the wild birds are some very
nice."[1]

When the artists had finished they proceeded to the shore, and to their
surprise and amu