A square we readily made. Two splints of bamboo wood
served as compasses. Charcoal, pounded as fine as flour and mixed in
water, took the place of chalk for the line; the latter we had on hand.
In cases where holes larger than the 6/8 bit were required, a piece of
small jack-stay iron was heated, and with this we could burn a hole to
any size required. So we had, after all, quite a kit to go on with.
Clamps, such as are used by boat builders, we had not, but made
substitutes from the crooked guava tree and from _massaranduba_ wood.
Trees from the neighbouring forest were felled when the timber from the
wrecked cargo would not answer. Some of these woods that we sought for
special purposes had queer sounding names, such as _arregebah,
guanandee, batetenandinglastampai_, etc. This latter we did not use the
saw upon at all, it being very hard, but hewed it with the axe, bearing
in mind that we had but one file, whereas for the edged tools we had but
to go down to a brook hard by to find stones in abundance suitable to
sharpen them on.
The many hindrances encountered in the building of the boat will not be
recounted here.
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