Swiss Family Robinson

goats, until, by the use of the lasso, they captured them one after the other, bound their legs, then giving them salt to lick, they soon obtained a supply of excellent milk which was poured from the cocoanut shells they used into calabash flasks, so that we could take with us what was not required at dinner.
    The fowls were enticed by handfuls of grain and rice, and my wife caught as many as she wished for.
    We were by this time very ready for dinner, and the cold provisions we had with us were set forth, the chief dish consisting of the piece of whale's tongue, which, by the boys' desire, had been cooked with a special view to this entertainment.
    But woeful was the disappointment when the tongue was tasted! One after another, with dismal face, pronounced it 'horrid stuff,' begged for some pickled herring to take away the taste of train-oil, and willingly bestowed on Fangs the cherished dainty.
    Fortunately there was a sufficient supply of other eatables, and the fresh, delicious cocoanuts and goat's milk put everyone in good humour again.
    While the mother packed everything up, Fritz and I got some sugar-cane shoots which I wished to plant, and then returned to the shore and again embarked.
    Before returning to Whale Island, I felt a strong wish to round Cape Disappointment and survey the coast immediately beyond, but the promontory maintained the character of its name, and we found that a long sandbank, as well as hidden reefs and rocks, ran out a great way into the sea.
    Fritz espying breakers ahead, we put about at once, and aided by a light breeze, directed our course towards Whale Island .
    On landing, I began at once to plant the sugar-cane shoots we had brought. The boys assisted me for a while, but wearied somewhat of the occupation, and one after another went off in search of shells and coral, leaving their mother and me to finish the work.
    Presently Jack came back, shouting loudly:
    `Father! Mother! Do come and look. There is an enormous skeleton lying here; the skeleton of some fearful great beast--a mammoth, I should think.'
    `Why Jack!' returned I laughing, `have you forgot our old acquaintance, the whale? What else could it be?'
    `Oh no, father, it is not the whale. This thing has not fish bones, but real good, honest, huge, beast bones. I don't know what can have become of the whale--floated out to sea most likely. This mammoth is ever so much bigger. Come and see!'
    As I was about to follow the boy, a voice from another direction suddenly cried:
    `Father! Father! A great enormous turtle! Please make haste. It is waddling back to the sea as hard as it can go, and we can't stop it.'
    This appeal being more pressing, as well as more important, than Jack's, I snatched up an oar and hastened to their assistance.
    Sure enough a large turtle was scrambling quickly towards the water, and was within a few paces of it, although Ernest was valiantly holding on by one of its hind legs.
    I sprang down the bank, and making use of the oar as a lever, we succeeded with some difficulty in turning the creature on its back.
    It was a huge specimen, fully eight feet long, and being now quite helpless, we left it sprawling, and went to inspect Jack's mammoth skeleton, which, of course, proved to be neither more nor less than that of the whale. I convinced him of the fact by pointing out the marks of our feet on the ground, and the broken jaws where we had hacked out the whalebone.
    `What can have made you take up that fancy about a mammoth, my boy?'
    `Ernest put it into my head, father. He said there seemed to be the skeleton of an antediluvian monster there, so I ran to look closer, and I never thought of the whale, when I saw no fish bones. I suppose Ernest was joking.'
    `Whales are generally considered as fishes by those little acquainted with the animal kingdom, but they belong to the class of mammals, which comprises man, the monkey tribes, the bats, the dogs and cats, all hoofed animals, whales and their allies, with other animals, the last on the list being the sloth.
    `The name by which they are distinguished is derived from the Latin word "mama," a breast, and is given to them because all the species belonging to this class are furnished with a set of organs called the mammary glands, secreting the liquid known as milk, by which the young are nourished.
    `The bones of the whale differ from those of animals, simply in being of a hollow construction, and filled with air so as to render the carcase more buoyant.