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So-called pearls have been found in elephants' tusks and semi-adherent to the bones of fish, and concretions hard, smooth, and round, and of the flat hue of skimmed milk in coconuts and in the cavities of bamboos; but in the production of the real gem neither oyster nor mussel nor pinna need fear the rivalry of anything on the earth's surface. The pearl belongs to the sea.
It, and the little strip of flat ground behind it, hold a three- roomed cottage of course on stilts; a shed which serves as a kitchen; a third ruined building, which is tenanted mostly by lizards and creeping flowers; some twenty or thirty coconut trees; and on the very edge of the sea an almond-tree, its roots built up to seaward with great stones, its trunk hung with fishing lines; and around it, scattered on the shingle, strange shells, bits of coral, coconuts and their fragments; almonds from the tree; the round scaly fruit of the Mauritia palm, which has probably floated across the gulf from the forests of the Orinoco or the Caroni; and the long seeds of the mangrove, in shape like a roach-fisher's float, and already germinating, their leaves showing at the upper end, a tiny root at the lower.
"And I saw it go under the sand, a fathom under the sand, on cross-bearings unnamable, where the mangroves fade away, and the coconuts grow, and the rise of land lifts from the beach to the Lion's Head." "Hold your horses," the wheat-farmer said, with a flare of irritation, directed, not at the Ancient Mariner, but at the captain and the Jew. "Who's putting up for this expedition?
Besides articles of food, such as pigs, yams, and coconuts, and weapons and ornaments of no marketable value tortoise-shell, flax, arrowroot, massoy bark, and feathers of the birds of paradise were seen by us, it is true, but in such small quantities as to hold out at present no inducement for traders to resort to these coasts for the purpose of procuring them.
It is true indeed that the breadfruit is not always in season; but coconuts, bananas, plantains, and a great variety of other fruits supply the deficiency. This indeed must be evident to everyone who will examine the places where the young trees come up. It will be always observed that they spring from the roots of the old ones which run along near the surface of the ground.
They went up into the hills together and gathered a great basket of wild oranges, green, but sweet and juicy; and they picked plantains from around the hut, and coconuts from their trees, and breadfruit and mangoes; and they carried them down to the cove. They loaded the unstable canoe with them, and Red and the native boy who had brought them the news of the ship paddled along outside the reef."
I observed our latitude to be 18 degrees 58 minutes south; our longitude was by account 3 degrees 4 minutes west from the island of Tofoa, having made a north 72 degrees west course, distance 95 miles, since yesterday noon. I divided five small coconuts for our dinner and everyone was satisfied.
This present consisted of five hogs, and forty-eight baskets filled with breadfruit, coconuts, tarro, and different kinds of puddings. The baskets were decorated with slips of cloth, stained with variety of colours and carried by 24 men, each of whom had a pole on his shoulder, at each end of which was a basket.
In the afternoon I sent my boat ashore to the natives who stood upon the point by the river's mouth with a present of coconuts; when the boat was come near the shore they came running into the water, and put their nuts into the boat.
"Wer' gonna open these lizzardheads like coconuts and pull out the brains and give'em to you, Lady, so that you can have breakfast," elucidated the second one. They laughed and Gabriele smiled widely, fully amused by their non- feminine creative play. "My ladies, methinks thou art so nice, but unfortunately I've already had breakfast." "Lady'speakin Shakespeare again," said the first one.
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