r I'm uncommonly
hungry, I can tell you; and it's no joke to charge a whole herd of swine
with their great-grandmother bristling like a giant porcupine at the head
of them!"

We now set about preparing supper; and, truly, a good display of viands
we made, when all was laid out on a flat rock in the light of the blazing
fire. There was, first of all, the little pig; then there was the taro-
root, and the yam, and the potato, and six plums; and, lastly, the wood-
pigeon. To these Peterkin added a bit of sugar-cane, which he had cut
from a little patch of that plant which he had found not long after
separating from us; "and," said he, "the patch was somewhat in a square
form, which convinces me it must have been planted by man."

"Very likely," replied Jack. "From all we have seen, I'm inclined to
think that some of the savages must have dwelt here long ago."

We found no small difficulty in making up our minds how we were to cook
the pig. None of us had ever cut up one before, and we did not know
exactly how to begin; besides, we had nothing but the axe to do it with,
our knife having been forgotten. At last Jack started up and said,--

"Don't let us waste more time talking about it, boys. Hold it up,
Peterkin. There, lay the hind leg on this block of wood, so;" and he cut
it off, with a large portion of the haunch, at a single blow of the axe.
"Now the other,--that's it." And having thus cut off the two hind legs,
he made several deep gashes in them, thrust a sharp-pointed stick through
each, and stuck them up before the blaze to roast. The wood-pigeon was
then split open, quite flat, washed clean in salt water, and treated in a
similar manner. While these were cooking, we scraped a hole in the sand
and ashes under the fire, into which we put our vegetables, and covered
them up.

The taro-root was of an oval shape, about ten inches long and four or
five thick. It was of a mottled-gray colour, and had a thick rind. We
found it somewhat like an Irish potato, and exceedingly good. The yam
was roundish, and had a rough brown skin. It was very sweet and well-
flavoured. The potato, we were surprised to find, was quite sweet and
exceedingly palatable, as also were the plums; and, indeed, the pork and
pigeon too, when we came to taste them. Altogether this was decidedly
the most luxurious supper we had enjoyed for many a day; and Jack said it
was out-of-sight better than we ever got on board ship; and Peterk