Crabs are also found in great numbers, and can be had for the trouble of picking up; so that we made shift to fare pretty well during our stay here. One of the islands to which we made several excursions, was known as Dead Man’s Island, from the fact that an encounter between the members of the crew of a Spanish ship, which was wrecked on the reef in the seventeenth century, resulted in the death of several of their number. The circumstances are these: the crew, after their vessel was stranded, made for this island, having saved provisions and other articles, amongst which was a chest of treasure. A dispute arising regarding the ownership of this treasure, from words they proceeded to blows and bloodshed, and some of them were sacrificed to their avaricious spirit. After the battle the defeated party were banished to another island, and the cause of strife was deposited for greater security on Square Island, where, tradition says, it still remains; and many have been induced by the rumor, incited by love of gain or adventure, to toil in hopes of its _éclaircissement_. To this day human bones are to be seen on the surface, and had there been as good evidence of the treasure as of the struggle, no doubt our Yankee inquisitiveness and acquisitiveness would have induced some of us to have made search for it. I can imagine no more inhospitable locality for a ship’s company to be cast away than amongst these islands. They would be unable to find any material to erect a covering for protection from the weather, unless some portions of their vessel were cast ashore--the islands themselves supplying nothing of the kind. To be sure they might manage to eke out a subsistence from the birds and fish which are so abundant at certain periods of the year; but they would be unable to exist without water in the summer season, when, for months, no rain falls. The only place where we found any fresh water was on Middle Island; and it was a mere deposit of rain, in a well dug by the whaling party who formerly made it the scene of their fishing operations.