"At least we shall not starve," I said, "though in the dry season we may
die of thirst."
Now there on that island we remained for four long months. For food we
ate the turtles, which we cooked over fires that Kari made by cunningly
twirling a pointed piece of driftwood in the hollow of another piece
that he filled with the dust of dried grass. Had he lacked that
knowledge we must have starved or lived on raw flesh. As it was, we had
plenty with this meat and that of birds and their eggs, also of fish
that we caught in the pools when the tide was down. From the shells of
the turtles, by the help of stones, we built us a kind of hut to
keep off the sun and the rain, which in that hot place was sufficient
shelter; also, when the stench was out of them, we used other shells in
which to catch rainwater that we stored as best we could against seasons
of drought. Lastly, with my big bow which was saved with the armour, I
shot sea-otters, and from their pelts we made us garments after rubbing
the skins with turtle fat and handling them to make them soft.
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