nimal; of Europe,
Asia, and Africa. This would by no means come up to the average
standard. I doubt if you could find upon it so much as a goat or a
poll-parrot much less an `onager,' a buffalo, or a boa-constrictor, some
of which at least are indispensable to a desert island of any
respectability."

"Why, then, do they call such delightful places desert islands!"
repeated Johnny. "I always thought a desert was a barren wilderness,
where there was nothing to be seen but sand, and rocks, and Arabs."

"I believe they are more properly called _desolate_ islands," said
Arthur; "and that seems proper enough; for even this island with all its
beauty, is supposed to be uninhabited, and it would be a very lonely and
_desolate_ home. Would you like to live here, Johnny, like Robinson
Crusoe, or the Swiss family?"

"Not all alone, like Robinson Crusoe. O no! that would be horrible; but
I think we might all of us together live here beautifully a little
while, if we had plenty of provisions, and plenty of arms to defend
ourselves against the savages; and then of course we should want a house
to live in, too."

"Nonsense," said Max, "what should we want of provisions?--the sea is
full of fish, and the forest of birds; the trees are loaded with fruit;
there are oysters and other shell-fish in the bays, and no doubt there
are various roots, good for food, to be had by digging for them. As to
a house, we might sleep very comfortably, in such weather as this, under
these Tournefortias, and never so much as think of taking cold; or we
could soon build a serviceable hut, which would be proof against sun and
rain, of the trunks and boughs of trees, with a thatch of palm-leaves
for a roof. Then in regard to arms, of course, if it should be our fate
to set up for desert islanders, we should be well supplied in that line.
I never heard of any one, from Robinson Crusoe down, being cast away on
a desert island, without a good store of guns, pistols, cutlasses,
etcetera, etcetera. Such a thing would be contrary to all precedent,
and is not for a moment to be dreamed of."

"But we haven't any arms," said Johnny, "except those old rusty
cutlasses that Spot put into the yawl, and if we should be cast away, or
left here, for instance, where should we get them from?"

"O, but we are not cast away yet," replied Max. "This is the way the
thing always happens. When people are cast away, it is in a ship, of
course."

"Why, yes; I suppo