more simple.

Cyrus Harding had only at his disposal the ordinary azotic acid and
not the fuming or monohydrate azotic acid, that is to say, acid which
emits white vapours when it comes in contact with damp air; but by
substituting for the latter ordinary azotic acid, mixed, in the
proportion of from three to five volumes of concentrated sulphuric
acid, the engineer obtained the same result. The sportsmen of the
island therefore soon had a perfectly prepared substance, which,
employed discreetly, produced admirable results.

About this time the settlers cleared three acres of the plateau, and
the rest was preserved in a wild state, for the benefit of the onagas.
Several excursions were made into the Jacamar woods and forests of the
Far West, and they brought back from thence a large collection of wild
vegetables, spinage, cress, radishes, and turnips, which careful
culture would soon improve, and which would temper the regimen on
which the settlers had till then subsisted. Supplies of wood and coal
were also carted. Each excursion was at the same time a means of
improving the roads, which gradually became smoother under the wheels
of the cart.

The rabbit-warren still continued to supply the larder of Granite
House. As fortunately it was situated on the other side of Creek
Glycerine, its inhabitants could not reach the plateau nor ravage the
newly-made plantation. The oyster-bed among the rocks was frequently
renewed, and furnished excellent molluscs. Besides that, the fishing,
either in the lake or the Mercy, was very profitable, for Pencroft had
made some lines, armed with iron hooks, with which they frequently
caught fine trout, and a species of fish whose silvery sides were
speckled with yellow, and which were also extremely savoury. Master
Neb, who was skilled in the culinary art, knew how to vary agreeably
the bill of fare. Bread alone was wanting at the table of the
settlers, and as has been said, they felt this privation greatly.

The settlers hunted too the turtles which frequented the shores of
Cape Mandible. At this place the beach was covered with little mounds,
concealing perfectly spherical turtles' eggs, with white hard shells,
the albumen of which does not coagulate as that of birds' eggs. They
were hatched by the sun, and their number was naturally considerable,
as each turtle can lay annually two hundred and fifty.

"A regular egg-field," observed Gideon Spilett, "and we have nothing
to do but t