o, Massa Walter," he answered. "I make de axe, I use it; if you
make it, you use it."

Macco, lifting his newly-made axe, advanced to the tree, and began
chopping away with careful and delicate strokes. He cut off only very
thin slices at a time, but by degrees he increased the rapidity of his
strokes, and I soon saw would produce far greater effect than we could
do with our knives. When he stopped, we set to work again. By the end
of the day, we calculated that we had got through more than half of the
trunk. It showed, at all events, what perseverance could do; and in
good spirits we returned to the shore. It was some time before sunset,
but we were anxious to try and find some more turtles' eggs. In vain,
however, we searched; and thinking that we might possibly find some more
further on, we continued our walk along the shore. We had gone some
distance without meeting with any success, when, the brushwood appearing
somewhat lighter, we determined to proceed a little way inland. We had
not gone far when we found a large mound fully six feet high, and, I
daresay, not less than twelve feet across. What it could be, we could
not at first tell. It seemed as if a building of some sort had stood
there, and the whole had tumbled down and been broken to atoms. We had
our bamboo spades with us, so we took it into our heads to dig into the
mound. It appeared to be composed, on examination, of dead leaves,
stones, earth, and rotten wood, and sticks of all sorts--indeed, every
variety of rubbish. At first I thought it might possibly be an ant's
nest, as I had read of the curious buildings formed by those creatures.
I had begun on one side; but Oliver went to the very top, and began
digging away. Macco could not assist us, as he said he had seen nothing
of the sort before. One thing we were certain of, that the mound was
artificial.

"I am afraid we are only wasting our time," I observed; "and it will be
better to go back to the shore to look for turtles' eggs; and perhaps we
may catch a turtle itself."

I had already begun to walk away, expecting my companions to follow,
when Oliver cried out, "Stay!--stay!--see here!" and he lifted up a
large egg of a light brick-red colour, fully as large as that of a swan.
I hurried back, and now, assisting him to dig, we uncovered a
considerable number--two or three dozen at least. I now recollected
having heard from Mr Hooker of a bird called the megapodius, which lays
its