y had more
patience than I possessed. At length I lay down, True by my side,
determined not to watch any longer. I fell asleep. Duppo shouting
awoke me, and looking up I found that our tree had drifted up to the
floating mass; that the branches were interlocked, and as far as we
could judge we were secured alongside. The monkey, who had been for a
brief time monarch of the floating island, now found his dominions
invaded by suspicious-looking strangers. For some time, however, I did
not like to venture across the boughs; but at length the trunk drove
against a solid part of the mass, and Duppo leading the way, True and I
followed him on to the island. "Ocoki! ocoki!" he exclaimed, and ran
along the trunk of a tall, prostrate tree of well-nigh one hundred feet
in length. On the boughs at the further end grew a quantity of
pear-shaped fruit, which he began to pick off eagerly. I did the same,
though its appearance was not tempting, as it was covered with an outer
skin of a woody texture. As he seemed eager to get it, I did not stop
to make inquiries, but collected as much as I could carry in my wallet
and pockets. He meantime had filled his arms full, and running back,
placed them in a secure place on the trunk of the tree we had left.

The monkey had meantime climbed to a bough which rose higher than the
rest out of the tangled mass. Hunger made me eager to kill the
creature. I took good aim, hoping at once to put it out of pain. I hit
it, but in falling it caught a bough with its tail, and hung on high up
in the air. Duppo immediately scrambled away, and before long had
mounted the tree. Though the monkey was dead, its tail still circled
the bough, and he had to use some force to unwind it. He brought it
down with evident satisfaction, and now proposed that we should return
to our tree and light another fire. We first collected as much dry wood
and as many leaves as we could find. Duppo quickly had the monkey's
skin off. True came in for a portion of his dinner before ours was
cooked. I saw Duppo examining the smaller bones, which he extracted
carefully, as well as a number of sinews, which he put aside. He then
stuck some of the meat on to thin spits, and placed it to roast in the
usual fashion over the fire. While this operation was going on, he
peeled some of the fruit we had collected. Inside the rind was a
quantity of pulpy matter, surrounding a large black oval stone. I found
the pulpy matt