ith sloping shores, and a wide beach which seemed like a beach of
sand. The surf broke here, but beyond the surf was the gentle sandy
declivity, and beyond this there appeared the shores, still rocky and
barren and desolate, but far preferable to what we had left behind.
Far away in the interior arose lofty mountains and volcanoes, while
behind us flamed the burning peak which we had passed.

Here the athaleb wheeled in long, circuitous flights, which grew lower
and lower, until at length he descended upon the sandy beach, where
I saw a vast sea-monster lying dead. It had evidently been thrown up
here by the sea. It was like one of those monsters which I had seen
from the galley of the Kohen at the time of the sacred hunt. By this
the athaleb descended, and at once began to devour it, tearing out
vast masses of flesh, and exhibiting such voracity and strength of
jaw that I could scarcely bear to look upon the sight. I fastened
the grapple securely to the head of the dead monster, and leaving
the athaleb to feed upon it, Almah and I went up the beach.

On our way we found rocks covered with sea-weed, and here we sought
after shell-fish. Our search was at length rewarded, for suddenly I
stumbled upon a place where I found some lobsters. I grasped two of
these, but the others escaped. Here at last I had found signs of life,
but they were of the sea rather than of the shore. Delighted with my
prey, I hastened to Almah to show them to her. She recognized them at
once, and I saw that they were familiar to her. I then spoke of eating
them, but at this proposal she recoiled in horror. She could not give
any reason for her repugnance, but merely said that among her people
they were regarded as something equivalent to vermin, and I found that
she would no more think of eating one than I would think of eating a
rat. Upon this I had to throw them away, and we once more resumed our
search.

At last we came to a place where numbers of dead fish lay on the sand.
Nearer the water they were more fresh, and not at all objectionable.
I picked up a few which looked like our common smelt, and found that
Almah had no objection to these. But now the question arose how to
cook them; neither of us could eat them raw. A fire was necessary, yet
a fire was impossible; for on the whole island there was probably not
one single combustible thing. Our discovery, therefore, seemed to have
done us but little good, and we seemed destined to starvation,