make their fish-hooks out of shark bones, why
should not I?

I had already tried to make hooks out of the
copper nails of my boat, but the metal was too
soft, and bent too readily. Now, however, I
could try on the shark's bones, and moreover it
would be some occupation for my long tedious
evenings; for the evening was always the most
wearisome part of my time. Many a dull evening
I spent, my thoughts far far away, roaming
free and uncontrolled over spots where, in
all likelihood, my feet would never tread again;
or I wearied myself with brooding over my
condition, and wondering what my friends would
think of my long-continued absence.

In six evenings, with the aid of my knife, and
some stones, and my broken glass, I made two
bone hooks, sufficiently sharp and strong to
catch any fish I might find off the rocks.
Another week was spent in twisting raw flax
into fishing lines. Next morning I was up
with the early dawn, and, after many failures,
captured a large rock cod, which I speedily
roasted at my fire. How much of it I ate, I
should be ashamed to confess.

VIII.

I may here give a diary of my daily proceedings
on the island. I generally woke early,
and, after saying my prayers, betook myself to
the spring of water and had a good fresh bath.
My next task was to go to the rocks, and either
obtain a supply of oysters or fish for breakfast.
I next went up into the forest for a supply of
firewood, looking well about me for any
discoveries that might prove useful. I found
growing among the shrubs, a large orange-
coloured pod, producing a very fragrant pepper.
With this, I flavoured my fish. I also found
salt in the crevices of the rocks, deposited there
by evaporation. After collecting firewood, I
next gathered fresh fern for my bed. Then
came the preparation for my mid-day meal,
for which I generally now had fish, and either
the wild palm or wild cabbage, which I found
growing at the foot of the rocks. I made a
change occasionally in my diet by the mode of
cooking it: one day broiling it, and another day
cooking it in a native kapura or hougi, with hot
stones in a hole. The afternoon I generally
spent in a walk in the forest, into which,
however, I dared not penetrate very far, for fear of
losing my road. In the evening I went down
to the pond and caught a few eels, ready for
bait the following morning. As soon as it was
dark I retired into my hut, and, throwing a few
sticks on the fire to make a light, employed
myself in making hooks, or lines, or any other
thing I could think of making and was able to
make. I had dug a hole in the centre of my floor,
in which I deposited every night sufficient fuel
to last until morning. My last employment
was my prayers, after which, rolling myself up
in my blanket, I tried to sleep. Thus, in dull
monotony, the time passed slowly away. Each
day's dawn found me with hope diminished,
and in its place a cold feeling of despair
gradually settling over me. Ofttimes I seemed
to be moving about, mechanically.

I had been seven weeks and two days on the
island, according to my reckoning—which reckoning
consisted in merely repeating to myself
occasionally, during each day, its name and the date
of the month—when, as I was coming from the
forest with a load of firewood, I looked
towards the sea, and was startled by the sight
of a vessel, passing at about eight miles'
distance. At first I scarce knew what to do.
I threw down the wood and rushed over the
rocks to my hut, for my blankets, to hang up in
a tree for signal. I carried the blankets up
the rocks, and climbed half way up a tree, when
the thought occurred to me I should be too
late, and that the smoke of a fire would be
seen more plainly. I accordingly slid down the
rocks again for some fire, lighted the pile of
wood I had thrown down, and then began to
climb once more into the tree, to hang out my
blankets. Alas, I had made the fire of dry
wood, and it burnt too brightly to emit much
smoke. It was now too late to place some
green branches on it. The vessel faded slowly
out of sight, never having noticed my attempts
at signalling her.

I know not what effect such an event would
have had on others placed in my situation,
whether it would have awakened and encouraged
other men to hope, or would have driven them to
despair. It had the latter tendency on me; and,
for the first time since I landed on the island, I
gave way to tears. I sat down, listless and
dejected, and cried long and bitterly. All that
day I cried bitterly.

At night I was startled. I had caught, as
usual, several small eels, and placed them on
the roof of my hut, to be ready for my morning's
fishing. In the middle of the night I was
aroused by hearing a strange scratching scrambling
noise upon the roof. It was with no small
trepidation that I ventured out to see what it
was. The night was very dark, and the first
thing I saw were two fiery balls of light
glaring at me from the top of the hut; next
moment, a black object flew at me. I stooped
suddenly, and the animal went over me with a
loud hiss, and disappeared in the darkness. It
was a large black cat. How it came there, I
know not. I had never seen it before and never
saw it afterwards, although I heard it once or
twice wailing dismally in the forest.

Of the next two or three days I have a very
confused recollection. I remember wandering
about all day, seeking rest and finding none,
careless, heedless, hopeless. It was during this
time, I doubt not, that I lost my reckoning; for
somehow or other I found that I had lost three
days.

How long this state might have continued
I cannot tell, but it was most mercifully
diverted in the following way. I had penetrated
deeper into the forest one day than I had ever
ventured before, where I came to a rather abrupt
gully; here I stumbled over a tree root, and
rolled down a descent. When I recovered