I also took out a cooking-kettle.

All these seemingly unimportant finds were of vital importance in the most literal sense of the phrase, particularly the tomahawk and the bow, which were in after years my very salvation time after time.
I was very delighted when I secured my bow and arrows, for I knew that with them I could always be certain of killing sea-fowl for food.

There was a stock of gunpowder on board and a number of rifles and shot-guns, but as the former was hopelessly spoiled, I did not trouble about either.
With my tomahawk I cut away some of the ship's woodwork, which I threw overboard and let drift to land to serve as fuel.

When I did eventually return to my little island, I unravelled a piece of rope, and then tried to produce fire by rubbing two pieces of wood smartly together amidst the inflammable material.

It was a hopeless business, however; a full half- hour's friction only made the sticks hot, and rub as hard as I would I could not produce the faintest suspicion of a spark.