and claws which the schooner had picked
up at sea on the eighteenth of January. Captain Guy had had the body
preserved for the purpose of stuffing the skin and taking it to England.
I remember he had given some directions about it just before our making
the island, and it had been brought into the cabin and stowed away in
one of the lockers. It had now been thrown on shore by the explosion;
but why it had occasioned so much concern among the savages was more
than we could comprehend. Although they crowded around the carcass at
a little distance, none of them seemed willing to approach it closely.
By-and-by the men with the stakes drove them in a circle around it, and
no sooner was this arrangement completed, than the whole of the vast
assemblage rushed into the interior of the island, with loud screams of
"Tekeli-li! Tekeli-li!"

CHAPTER 23

DURING the six or seven days immediately following we remained in our
hiding-place upon the hill, going out only occasionally, and then with
the greatest precaution, for water and filberts. We had made a kind of
penthouse on the platform, furnishing it with a bed of dry leaves,
and placing in it three large flat stones, which served us for both
fireplace and table. We kindled a fire without difficulty by rubbing two
pieces of dry wood together, the one soft, the other hard. The bird we
had taken in such good season proved excellent eating, although somewhat
tough. It was not an oceanic fowl, but a species of bittern, with jet
black and grizzly plumage, and diminutive wings in proportion to its
bulk. We afterward saw three of the same kind in the vicinity of the
ravine, apparently seeking for the one we had captured; but, as they
never alighted, we had no opportunity of catching them.

As long as this fowl lasted we suffered nothing from our situation, but
it was now entirely consumed, and it became absolutely necessary that
we should look out for provision. The filberts would not satisfy the
cravings of hunger, afflicting us, too, with severe gripings of the
bowels, and, if freely indulged in, with violent headache. We had seen
several large tortoises near the seashore to the eastward of the hill,
and perceived they might be easily taken, if we could get at them
without the observation of the natives. It was resolved, therefore, to
make an attempt at descending.

We commenced by going down the southern declivity, which seemed to offer
the fewest difficulties, but had not