turtle meat.

Or it may have been that, having told Harden-Hickey of the
derelict island, the latter persuaded the captain to allow him to
land and explore it. Of this, at least, we are certain, a boat was sent
ashore, Harden-Hickey went ashore in it, and before he left the
island, as a piece of no man's land, belonging to no country, he
claimed it in his own name, and upon the beach raised a flag of his
own design.

The island of Trinidad claimed by Harden-Hickey must not be
confused with the larger Trinidad belonging to Great Britain and
lying off Venezuela.

The English Trinidad is a smiling, peaceful spot of great tropical
beauty; it is one of the fairest places in the West Indies. At every
hour of the year the harbor of Port of Spain holds open its arms to
vessels of every draught. A governor in a pith helmet, a cricket
club, a bishop in gaiters, and a botanical garden go to make it a
prosperous and contented colony. But the little derelict Trinidad,
in latitude 20 degrees 30 minutes south, and longitude 29 degrees
22 minutes west, seven hundred miles from the coast of Brazil, is
but a spot upon the ocean. On most maps it is not even a spot.
Except by birds, turtles, and hideous land-crabs, it is uninhabited;
and against the advances of man its shores are fortified with cruel
ridges of coral, jagged limestone rocks, and a tremendous towering
surf which, even in a dead calm, beats many feet high against the
coast.

In 1698 Dr. Halley visited the island, and says he found nothing