We should also have to assume that the ship was
loaded with a general cargo, including such unlikely items as
tool-chests and cases of vegetable seeds, all of which would be washed
ashore undamaged precisely when wanted. It is quite obvious that a
cargo of, say, type-writers, or railway metals, would prove of
doubtful utility to any castaways, nor would there be much probability
of either of these articles floating ashore. My nephew, a slave to
tradition, wished at once to construct a hut of palm branches close to
the clear spring, as is always done in the books; he was also
positively yearning to light a fire in the manner customary amongst
orthodox castaways, by using my spectacles as a burning-glass. With
regard to the necessary commissariat arrangements, he pointed out that
there were abundant Avocado pear trees in the vicinity, which would
furnish "Midshipman's butter," whilst the bread-fruit tree would
satisfactorily replace the baker, and the Aki fruit form an excellent
substitute for eggs. He enlarged on the innumerable other vegetable
conveniences of the island, and declared that it was almost flying in
the face of Providence for a sea-captain to neglect to lose his ship
in so ideal a spot.
Whilst watching the little boys playing football in a temperature of
90 degrees, we noticed an unusual adjunct to a football field.
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