Had It Not Been That I Was An Inventor Of Transcendent Genius, Even This Last Luxury Would Have Been Debarred Us.

We had been absent from civilisation, so long, that our tin billies, the only boiling utensils we had, got

Completely worn or burnt out at the bottoms, and as the boilings for glue and oil must still go on, what were we to do with billies with no bottoms? Although as an inventor I can allow no one to depreciate my genius, I will admit there was but one thing that could be done, and those muffs Tietkens and Jimmy actually advised me to do what I had invented, which was simply - all great inventions are simple - to cover the bottoms with canvas, and embed the billies half-way up their sides in cold ashes, and boil from the top instead of the bottom, which of course we did, and these were our glue- and flesh-pots. The tongue, brains, kidneys, and other titbits of course were eaten first.

On the 19th some natives began to yell near the camp, but three only made their appearance. They were not only the least offensive and most civil we had met on any of our travels, but they were almost endearing in their welcome to us. We gave them some of the bones and odd pieces of horse-meat, which seemed to give them great satisfaction, and they ate some pieces raw. They were in undress uniform, and "free as Nature first made man, ere the vile laws of servitude began, when, wild in the woods, the noble savage ran." They were rather good, though extremely wild-looking young men.

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