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We made some salt-pans by blocking up the outlets in the rocks when the water ran off at high tide, and by scraping others in the sand. We thus had a supply of salt for all our wants. Mr McRitchie also found in his chest some papers containing a variety of vegetable seed.
Mr McRitchie did not appear to be as surprised as we were. He all the time, we found, had known that they were on board, but had been directed not to mention it to us.
Stopping suddenly, they asked us by signs if we were hungry, and immediately gathered a number of fungi, which grew in clusters round the roots of a tree which Mr McRitchie told us was an evergreen beech. They handed them to Jerry and me, at the same time patting us on the stomach. "What are these toadstools for, old gentleman?" exclaimed Jerry, holding them up and laughing.
Mr Robarts could not leave the schooner; but as Mr McRitchie and we were very anxious to see as much of the interior of this wonderful country as possible, we arranged to go up in an egaritea as far as time would allow. Mr Robarts allowed us to take a half-caste native, who had served on board a British ship and spoke a little English, as our interpreter.
"They don't want us to eat these, surely, for our luncheon?" "They do, though," said Mr McRitchie. "They are the edible fungi. Just take a piece; the people hereabouts eat them largely." Jerry on this took a large mouthful, but spat it out, declaring that he would just as soon eat shoe-leather. I ate a small piece, but thought it tasted very insipid, and not very digestible.
Jerry and Mr McRitchie went together, Fleming accompanied me, and we had old Surley, who sat up between our legs, looking sagaciously out before him. Away we rattled. The road was much better than we had expected to find it in a place so far away from England as this seemed.
This mode of travelling we found very comfortable almost too luxurious for our tastes and tolerably expeditious. I should say that we all had our guns, and that McRitchie had, besides, his sketch-book, and boxes and cases for collecting subjects of natural history. The difficulty in this region was to know what to select.
Mr Callard himself had his duties to attend to, so that he could not accompany us. Ben Yool had been left with the schooner, so our party consisted of Mr McRitchie, Cousin Silas, Jerry, and I, not forgetting old Surley. He always kept close to us, suspecting, perhaps, if the natives caught him, they might cook and eat him.
The savages looked astonished at our want of taste, and, to show that they appreciated the production more than we did, crammed quantities of it into their mouths. "Come, Mr McRitchie, for the advancement of science you must eat some!" exclaimed Jerry, handing him a big fungus.
We were paddling along, admiring the wonderful foliage one forest seeming, as it were, to rise up out of the top of another, the lowest being higher and thicker than any forest in northern regions when suddenly a huge black monster was seen swimming rapidly towards us. "An alligator!" exclaimed McRitchie. "He'll make mince-meat of us in a moment. My gun quick, quick!"
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