A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder James De Mille

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vast masses of flesh, and exhibiting such voracity and strength of
jaw that I could scarcely bear to look upon the sight. I fastened
the grapple securely to the head of the dead monster, and leaving
the athaleb to feed upon it, Almah and I went up the beach.
On our way we found rocks covered with sea-weed, and here we sought
after shell-fish. Our search was at length rewarded, for suddenly I
stumbled upon a place where I found some lobsters. I grasped two of
these, but the others escaped. Here at last I had found signs of life,
but they were of the sea rather than of the shore. Delighted with my
prey, I hastened to Almah to show them to her. She recognized them at
once, and I saw that they were familiar to her. I then spoke of eating
them, but at this proposal she recoiled in horror. She could not give
any reason for her repugnance, but merely said that among her people
they were regarded as something equivalent to vermin, and I found that
she would no more think of eating one than I would think of eating a
rat. Upon this I had to throw them away, and we once more resumed our
search.
At last we came to a place where numbers of dead fish lay on the sand.
Nearer the water they were more fresh, and not at all objectionable.
I picked up a few which looked like our common smelt, and found that
Almah had no objection to these. But now the question arose how to
cook them; neither of us could eat them raw. A fire was necessary, yet
a fire was impossible; for on the whole island there was probably not
one single combustible thing. Our discovery, therefore, seemed to have
done us but little good, and we seemed destined to starvation, when
fortunately a happy thought suggested itself. In walking along I saw
far away the glow of some lava which had flowed to the shore at the
end of the sandy beach, and was probably cooling down at the water's
edge. Here, then, was a natural fire, which might serve us better than
any contrivance of our own, and toward this we at once proceeded. It
was about two miles away; but the beach was smooth, and we reached
the place without any difficulty.
Here we found the edge of that lava flood which seemed eternally
descending from the crater beyond. The edge which was nearest the
water was black; and the liquid fire, as it rolled down, curled over
this in a fantastic shape, cooling and hardening into the form which
it thus assumed. Here, after some search, I found a crevice where I
could approach the fire, and I laid the fish upon a crimson rock,