THE AMERICAN WHALEMAN. 113 



pin liver, which is sweeter than the almond. This dainty, 

 served on our excellent ship-bread, made a feast fit for a 

 prince. Our cookery was entirely novel; and as it may 

 happen that the reader one day will be enabled to obtain 

 two pieces of lava and a pound slice from the tenderloin of 

 a four-hundred-pound terrapin, I will let him into the se- 

 cret. Place two such pieces of lava, with spoon-like cavi- 

 ties to catch the gravy, before the blazing fire, until they be- 

 come frying hot. Then place the meal upon the stone with 

 the largest cavity ; lay a piece of sweet fat on top, sprink- 

 ling a little salt over it, and cover all with the second lump 

 of lava. In a short time you will have a dish that none but 

 good whalemen or honest landsmen deserve to eat. Hav- 

 ing thus dined, and lighted our pipes, we threw ourselves at 

 length on the bosom of our kingdom, and were willing that 

 crowned kings of earth should draw up to dull mahogany, 

 and eat the best of the coarse fare their possessions afford- 

 ed ; better, we thought condescendingly, that they should 

 eat salmon and venison than starve. Another tenderloin 

 from between hot stones supplied us with a night-cap ; and 

 after another solacing pipe, and dreamy talk of homes in 

 England and America, we fell into a peaceful slumber, un- 

 der the enchantment of a moonlight glimmer on the broad 

 floor of an extinct volcano. 



The morning broke on us, refreshed and transported with 

 the wild romance of our surroundings. We discussed the 

 possibilities of existence in the heart of this island, and al- 

 most persuaded ourselves that such a chance of life would 

 be preferable to much that we had seen in the back alleys 

 and slums of crowded cities. We were at a loss to account 

 for the verdure, and comparative fertility of this elevated 

 plateau, but concluded that its elevation was sufficient to 

 cause heavy dews perhaps to condense the clouds to rain 

 while the coast beneath was parched by nine months of un- 



