CHAPTER 15

It is decided to Winter on the Island—A metallic Question— Exploring Safety Island—A Seal Hunt—Capture of an Echidua—A Koala—What is called the Catalan Method—Manufacturing Iron— How Steel is obtained. The next day, the 17th of April, the sailor’s first words were addressed to Gideon Spilett. “Well, sir,” he asked, “what shall we do to-day?” “What the captain pleases,” replied the reporter. Till then the engineer’s companions had been brickmakers and potters, now they were to become metallurgists. Th…