it, there appeared to be something
mysterious in the total indifference so suddenly manifested towards them
by the savages; but although many were the guesses made, they were very
far from hitting on the real cause.

During this period they subsisted on the numerous fruits and vegetables
which grew wild in great abundance on the island, and spent their days
in gathering them and hunting wild pigs and snaring birds. As Larry was
wont to observe with great satisfaction, and, usually, with his mouth
full of victuals--

"Sure it's the hoith o' livin' we have--what with cocky-nuts, an' taros
an' bananas, an' young pigs for the killin', an' ginger-beer for the
drinkin', an' penny loaves growin' on the trees for nothin', wid no end
o' birds, an' pots ready bilin', night an' day, to cook 'em in--och! it
would be hiven intirely but for the dirty savages, bad luck to 'em!"

There was more truth in Larry's remark than may be apparent at first
sight. Vegetation was not only prolific and beautiful everywhere, but
exceedingly fruitful. The bread-fruit tree in particular supplied them
with more than they required of a substance that was nearly as palatable
and nutritious as bread. Captain Dall fortunately knew the method of
cooking it in an oven, for the uncooked fruit is not eatable. The milk
of the young cocoa-nuts was what the facetious Irishman referred to
under the name of ginger-beer; but his remark about boiling pots was
literally correct. The summit of that mountainous island was, as we
have already said, an active volcano, from which sulphurous fumes were
constantly issuing--sometimes gently, and occasionally with violence.

Several of the springs in the neighbourhood were hot--a few being almost
at the boiling point, so that it was absolutely possible to boil the
wild pigs and birds which they succeeded in capturing, without the use
of a fire! Strange to say, they also found springs of clear _cold_
water not far from the hot springs.

There is a species of thin tough bark round the upper part of the stem
of the cocoa-nut palm--a sort of natural cloth--which is much used by
the South Sea islanders. Of this they fashioned some rude but useful
garments.

"It seems curious, doesn't it," said Will Osten to Captain Dall, one
day, referring to these things and the beauty of the island, "that the
Almighty should make such a terrestrial paradise as this, and leave it
to be used, or rather abused, by such devils in human