se the
higher of the two knolls to which I have before referred, while square
away to my right, and distant perhaps two miles, towered the bald peak
that was the highest point in the island. The ground in front of me, as
I lay, rose somewhat steeply to a kind of ridge that seemed to run from
one to the other of the two elevations I have just mentioned, and the
whole of the ground not clothed with grass was studded with great clumps
of splendid trees. Some of these were thickly starred with flowers,
while here and there were coconut palms with their smooth, curving
trunks, smaller trees which might possibly be fruit-bearing, and a
profusion of plantains or bananas, among the long pendulous green leaves
of which I could distinguish, even where I lay, great clusters of ripe
yellow fruit.

The sight of that fruit was enough for me; it was even more entrancing
than the glorious landscape that unrolled itself to right and left.
Postponing the contemplation of the latter to a more convenient season,
I rose to my feet, staggered forward, and, a few minutes later, found
myself gathering a quantity of the golden fruit, even then allowing
myself time to choose the best and ripest. Then, with a dozen or more
bananas in the hollow of my arm, I returned to the edge of the cliff at
a point a hundred yards or so to the north of where I had made my
ascent. I at once saw that here the cliff was of a much more
practicable character than where I had ascended; and negotiating the
descent with very little difficulty, I soon had the intense satisfaction
not only of seeing each of the other members of the party devouring a
banana with indescribable avidity, but also of eating one myself; and I
can safely say that never in my life have I so thoroughly enjoyed food
as I did that banana.

But what was one banana to people who were on the very brink of
perishing from starvation? It only served to whet their appetite for
more. I would not, however, allow them to have any more just then; I
was cruel to be kind, and resolutely turned a deaf ear alike to their
entreaties and their reproaches, as I did to the cravings of my own
ravenous hunger. I insisted that at least half an hour should elapse
before they ate again, and I kept to my word. But no sooner had the
half-hour expired than we again fell to and consumed another banana
each, after which I insisted on everybody taking an hour's rest. This
we did? and at the end of the hour we all fe