This hard work made the boys hungry; they refreshed
themselves with sugar-canes, but had a great desire to have some
cocoa-nuts. Unfortunately, there were neither monkeys nor crabs to
bestow them, and the many attempts they made to climb the lofty, bare
trunk of the palm ended only in disappointment and confusion. I went to
their assistance. I gave them pieces of the rough skin of the shark,
which I had brought for the purpose, to brace on their legs, and showing
them how to climb, by the aid of a cord fastened round the tree with a
running noose, a method practised with success by the savages, my little
climbers soon reached the summit of the trees; they then used their
hatchets, which they had carried up in their girdles, and a shower of
cocoa-nuts fell down. These furnished a pleasant dessert, enlivened by
the jests of Fritz and Jack, who, being the climbers, did not spare
Doctor Ernest, who had contented himself with looking up at them; and
even now, regardless of their banter, he was lost in some new idea.
Rising suddenly, and looking at the palms, he took a cocoa-nut cup, and
a tin flask with a handle, and gravely addressed us thus:--
"Gentlemen and lady! this exercise of climbing is really very
disagreeable and difficult; but since it confers so much honour on the
undertakers, I should like also to attempt an adventure, hoping to do
something at once glorious and agreeable to the company.
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