But that will not do, either.

There are the three layers again and the solid earth between--and, besides, there were only eight in Noah's family, and they could not have eaten all these oysters in the two or three months they staid on top of that mountain.

The beasts--however, it is simply absurd to suppose he did not know any more than to feed the beasts on oyster suppers.
It is painful--it is even humiliating--but I am reduced at last to one slender theory: that the oysters climbed up there of their own accord.
But what object could they have had in view ?--what did they want up there?
What could any oyster want to climb a hill for?
To climb a hill must necessarily be fatiguing and annoying exercise for an oyster.

The most natural conclusion would be that the oysters climbed up there to look at the scenery.

Yet when one comes to reflect upon the nature of an oyster, it seems plain that he does not care for scenery.