from brooding too much. I took care to tire
myself so thoroughly that I generally fell asleep
as soon as I had said my prayers and laid myself
down. Sunday following, I resolved to keep free
from work. I climbed up the narrow rocky pathway
into the forest, and found growing, as I
expected, among the trees, abundance of the wild
palm or nikau. The heart of two or three of
these I cut out with my knife. The heart of
this palm is about the thickness of a man's
wrist, is about a foot long, and tastes not unlike
the English hazel-nut, when roasted on the ashes
of a fire. It is very nutritious. This, with the
oysters, composed my supper on the second
Sunday of my stay on the island. The day was
warm and sunny, and, coming after the four or
five wet days, was very cheering. After supper
I planned out my house, having chosen a place
for it during my walk in the afternoon.

Before I lay down for the night, I sat on a
great stone, looking over the sea, and kept
repeating the psalm in which occurs the verse:
"Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and
why art thou disquieted within me? Hope
thou in God; for I shall yet praise Him for the
help of his countenance."

So ended my second Sunday on the island.

VI.

I woke early next morning; and, after my
usual visit to the rocks, went to my boat,
and, taking one of the lining boards, spent an hour
or so in trying to fashion it into something like
a spade. Then, I dug a small trench round the
spot where I intended placing my house, and
then made perfectly level, a space of about
fourteen feet long by ten feet wide, pulling up
the grass and plants. I went into the forest
and cut down four long straight sticks, about
an inch and a half in diameter, and five to six
feet long, forked at one end. These were for
the corners. I cut two about the same thickness,
and about nine feet long, forked in the
same manner at one end. These were to carry
the ridge pole. I then cut down three or four
bundles of long straight sticks of various lengths
and thickness. This took me altogether two
days—namely, cutting and carrying them down
to the place I had chosen for my house; the
framework of which took me three more days to
complete. The labour of breaking open the
oysters in sufficient quantities to satisfy my
appetite very considerably abridged the length
of my day. It was a task of no small difficulty,
in which my fingers nearly always suffered;
and, let me eat as many oysters as I would,
I rarely left the rocks perfectly satisfied; there
was ever within me a disagreeable sensation of
hunger. I was tortured with dreams of solid
substantial breakfasts, dinners, and suppers. I
had not even the comfort of a drop of water at
hand, when I awoke with a raging thirst upon
me, having no vessel to keep it in. (I afterwards
tried to make a vessel capable of holding water
from some soft clay; but though I baked it in
the fire to harden it, it was so porous that
the water evaporated during the night, and
I generally found the vessel empty in the
morning.)

I had frequently seen the Maories obtain
fire by rubbing together two sticks, and I
had once or twice attempted it myself, but
without success. Now, however, the obtaining
of fire was a matter of such consequence
to me that I resolved once more to make the
attempt. First, I sought for some hard stone,
thinking therewith to strike fire with the aid
of my knife; but I could not find any stone fit
for my purpose, and if I had, there was no
tinder whereon to strike the spark. I therefore
resolved to make an effort to obtain fire by
rubbing the two sticks—with but small hope
of success. I gathered some very dry ferns
and small manuka twigs, which are very
resinous and inflammable. I rubbed it between
two pieces of wood—slowly at first. Presently
the wood began to smell of burning, and a little
wreath of white smoke curled upward. I then
quickened my motion, until the perspiration
streamed down my face, while my elbows and
wrists began to ache painfully. In this way I
rubbed for well-nigh twenty minutes, and all the
result I obtained was the smell of fire and smoke.
I nearly despaired, and was about to give it
up, when one of the minute shavings flew up a
living spark; what a thrill of joy it sent through
me! I forgot my weariness; and, redoubling
my efforts for a few seconds, had the satisfaction
of seeing several more sparks. I dropped the
stick, and blew gently on the heap until it was
on fire. I then gently shook it upon the fern,
wrapped the fern up in fir-twigs, and waved it
quickly round my head until the whole mass
was in flames. This fire I never allowed to go
out.

VII.

I kept a good stock of firewood, and dug a
hole in the middle of my house, which I kept
always filled with hot embers, besides keeping a
pile of dry purin sticks for light at night. With
a gun, I could have materially improved my
food, as I saw plenty of wild ducks on the small
pond, besides parrots and pigeons in the forest.
I attempted to hit the ducks with stones, but
never succeeded in killing any, although I
twice hit. I next thought of a bow and
arrows, but my attempts proved futile.
However, I added another dish to my meagre
fare, and that was fern-root, of which I had
abundance.

I had now been about three weeks on the
island; although in no way reconciled to the
idea of living there, the hope of ever getting
away again daily became fainter and fainter,
until at times, if I sat down for a short while and
tried to think over my situation, I was well-
nigh driven to despair. One morning, on going
out of my house, I perceived an intolerable
stench, coming up from the beach. I went
down to see what it was, and, to my great
disgust, found the dead body of a large shark,
in the last stage of decomposition, washed up
by the tide. After a time, however, it
occurred to me that, as I had seen the Maories