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286 THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON
island to get what we should find useful from the stranded whale.
After staying a day or two longer here in order to undertake this disagreeable task, we thought of returning to Cliff House. We packed up everything we had, including Emily's treasures, both those she had saved from shipwreck and those she had made herself. Fritz had given her a box which held them all, and they really were very curious, consisting of clothes, ornaments, domestic utensils, and all sorts of articles which she had made in her exile, out of the scanty material she had at her disposal. There were fish-lines of the twisted hair of her head, with fish-hooks attached, made of mother-of-pearl ; some needles fashioned from fish-bones; piercers and bodkins, which had once been the beaks of birds; two beautiful needle-cases, one made of a pelican's feather, the other of the bone of a sea-calf. The skin of a young walrus sewed together served for a bottle ; a lamp made of a shell, with a wick of cotton drawn from her handkerchief; over the lamp another shell served as boiler ; a turtle-shell used for cooking food, by the throwing in of hot stones ; some fish-bladders, shells of all sizes, serving for glasses, spoons, dishes, etc.; little sacks full of seeds, a quantity of plants, such as the |
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