Then we placed a beam upon two big forked sticks to support the roof, and covered our roof with the large leaves, arranging them on the top of one another just like shingles. We also built a platform in case we should need it for smoking meat.
Then I walked all over the island, and discovered buried in the sand a number of turtle's eggs, to my great joy, for turtle's eggs are very good to eat. There were so many of them that we should not have starved had we remained quite a while on the island, for not only did we find many eggs but we captured a number of turtles. When I returned from my tour of investigation, Rogala was talking to his idol.
We boiled a number of turtle's eggs, and having salt with us we enjoyed them immensely. If I had had some oil or wild boar's fat, what delicious turtle's-egg omelette we could have made! After breakfast we fished, and were lucky enough to catch some fish, to our great delight. These we broiled on charcoal for our dinner. The day passed rather slowly, for I was anxious for the night to come.
APPEARANCE OF THE SOUTHERN HEAVENS AT NIGHT--HOMESICKNESS--I TAKE SEVERAL OBSERVATIONS--ASTONISHMENT OF ROGALA--FIND THAT I AM NINETY MILES SOUTH OF THE EQUATOR
AT last the sun set behind the trees. Darkness came on, and the stars made their appearance one by one. Soon the heavens glittered with them. The murmur of the wind passing through the top of the trees and the gentle noise of the river gliding along the shores were all that disturbed the absolute silence of the night. I was happy to see the stars again. How beautiful they were in the blue heavens!
I gazed upon them silently for quite a while, then I said to them: "I love you, dear twinkling stars, for you are my friends and companions of the night. Without you I should be lost in this great forest. You and the moon tell me where I am. I miss you ever so much when I am without you. I feel lonely without you."
But I missed many of the stars that I loved at home. The little ship that had carried me across the ocean to those southern latitudes had taken me away from them. Many stars that were unknown to me had taken their place, and though they were beautiful and I admired them, I did not love them. The stars that twinkle and look down upon the bright glittering snow, the Mississippi, the Rocky Mountains, the Alleghanies, upon our great lakes, prairies, dales, and hills, upon the pine, the oak, the beech, the elm, and the birch, upon the violets, buttercups, and goldenrods, were those I loved the best.