place of shelter, but when I began to recover the pearl shells from the
ship, it occurred to me that I might use them as material with which to
build some kind of a hut. Altogether there were about thirty tons of
pearl shells on board, and at first I took to diving for them merely as a
sort of pastime.

I spent many weeks getting enough shells ashore to build a couple of
parallel walls, each about seven feet high, three feet thick, and ten
feet in length. The breeze blew gratefully through them. I filled the
interstices of these walls with a puddle of clayey sand and water,
covered in the top with canvas, and made quite a comfortable living-place
out of it. The walls at any rate had a high commercial value! When the
wet season set in I built a third wall at one end, and erected a sort of
double awning in front, under which I always kept my fire burning. I
also put a straw thatch over the hut, proudly using my own straw which I
had grown with blood.

In course of time I made myself crude articles of furniture, including a
table, some chairs, a bed, &c. My bedding at first consisted of sails,
but afterwards I was able to have a mattress filled with straw from my
corn patch. The kettle I had saved from the wreck was for a long time my
only cooking utensil, so when I had anything to prepare I generally made
an oven in the sand, after the manner of the natives I had met on the New
Guinea main. I could always catch plenty of fish--principally mullet;
and as for sea-fowls, all that I had to do was walk over to that part of
the island where they were feeding and breeding, and knock them over with
a stick. I made dough-cakes from the flour whilst it lasted; and I had
deputies to fish for me--I mean the hundreds of pelicans. The birds who
had little ones to feed went out in the morning, and returned in the
afternoon, with from three to ten pounds of delicious fresh fish in their
curious pouches.

On alighting on the island they emptied their pouches on the sand--too
often, I must confess, solely for my benefit. Selfish bachelor birds on
returning with full pouches jerked their catch into the air, and so
swallowed it. It used to amuse me, however, to watch a robber gull,
perched on their back, cleverly and neatly intercepting the fish as it
ascended. These fish, with broiled turtle meat and tinned fruits, made
quite a sumptuous repast.

After breakfast I would have a swim when the tide was low and there was
no li