Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/76

58 provided with a little bit of wood, cut into the shape of a spatula, of which I spoke above; and with these they separated from beneath the rocks, at great depths, very large sea-ears. Perhaps they choose the biggest, for all they brought were of a great size.

On seeing the large lobsters, which they had in their baskets, we were afraid that they must have wounded these poor women terribly with their large claws; but we soon found, that they had taken the precaution to kill them as soon as they caught them. They quitted the water only to bring their husbands the fruits of their labour; and frequently returned almost immediately to their diving, till they had procured a sufficient meal for their families. At other times they staid a little while to warm themselves, with their faces toward the fire on which their fish was roasting, and other little fires burning behind them, that they might be warmed on all sides at once.

It seemed as if they were unwilling to lose a moment's time, for while they were warming themselves, they were employed in roasting fish; some of which they laid on the coals with the utmost caution: though they took little care of the lobsters, which they threw any where into the fire, and when they were ready, they divided the claws