to the heat
of fire. The root is like a coarse potato. It is dried and then grated
on a grater formed by sharp pebbles stuck on a board, and the juice
which remains is then pressed out by means of an elastic basket, into
which the grated root is stuffed. The farina thus produced is made into
thin cakes and baked. Tapioca is the finer portion of the farina.

I might, as I was saying, fill my pages with an account of the wonderful
productions of those fertile islands, of the value of which I do not
think even now my countrymen are fully aware. One curious circumstance
I must mention in connection with them and my paternal country,
Shetland, though I did not hear it till very many years afterwards. It
shows how intimately the interests of distant parts of the world are
united. The slaves in the West Indies were supplied by their masters
with salt-fish, which fish were caught by the Shetlanders off their
coasts. When the slaves were emancipated, they refused any longer to
eat the description of food which they had been compelled to consume
during their servitude, and the Shetland fish-dealers had not thought in
the meantime of looking out for fresh markets. The consequence was,
they were ruined; the herring boats were laid up, and the fishermen had
to go south in search of employment.

However, that has nothing to do with my story. The _Grogo_ was very
successful, and we were looking forward every day for the return of the
_Montezuma_. I could not help telling Mr Merton one day of my rash
oath which I had made in the presence of my grandmother, and how I had
been wrecked in every vessel I had sailed in from the time I came to
sea. He tried to reason me out of the belief that I was the cause of
the loss of the vessels. He said the oath was wicked, there was no
doubt of that, but that others had lost their lives and some their
property, while I each time had suffered less than anybody else. I saw
the strength of his reasoning, but still I was not convinced. I felt
that I had deserved all the hardships I had endured, and I fully
expected to be wrecked again. What followed may seem very strange. All
I can do is to give events as they occurred. Two days after this we lay
becalmed about ten miles from the land off Port Morant, to the eastward
of Kingston in Jamaica. We had an old man of colour, who acted as pilot
and mate on board. He had been below asleep. At last he turned out of
his hot, stifling berth, a