This rock was rich in the spasmodic kind of oyster, large detached masses of which lay just beneath the water in lumps of some hundredweight each, which had been formed by the oysters clustering and adhering together.

It so happened that our party were unanimous in the love of these creatures, and we accordingly exerted ourselves to roll out of the water a large mass; which having accomplished, we discovered to our dismay that nothing but one penknife was possessed among us.
This we knew was a useless weapon against such armor; however, in our endeavors to perform impossibilities, we tickled the oyster and broke the knife.

After gazing for seine time in blank despair at our useless prize, a bright thought struck one of the party, and drawing his ramrod he began to screw it Into the weakest part of an oyster; this, however, was proof, and the ramrod broke.
Stupid enough it may appear, but it was full a quarter of an hour before any of us thought of a successful plan of attack.

I noticed a lot of drift timber scattered upon the island, and then the right idea was hit.

We gathered the wood, which was bleached and dry, an we piled it a few feet to windward of the mass of oysters.