the north end of Jethou.

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CHAPTER II.

I TAKE POSSESSION OF THE ISLAND--LANDING STORES--A GRAND
CAROUSAL--FAREWELL--ALONE.


The 2nd March, 187--, was a bright mild day, with but little wind and a
quiet sea: just the day for landing my stores. The goods I had selected,
and those added by my father and M. Oudin, were of a very miscellaneous
kind, and included provisions, farm and garden seeds (and a few
implements), a canoe, a gun, clothing, fishing gear, oil and coal,
cooking apparatus, and a score other things. As I knew the island was
devoid of animals except rabbits, I asked for, and obtained some live
stock--in fact, quite a farmyard. There were a goat, a dog, a cat, six
pigeons, two pigs, six fowls, and last, though by no means least, a
young donkey.

The large cases of goods were landed in a boat, not without a slight
mishap, however, as one of them, in being lowered over the bulwarks, was
carelessly unhitched by the men in the boat and tumbled overboard; it
fell in three fathoms of water, but the water was so translucent that it