THE WESTERN ISLANDS
"Once there were two sailors; and one of them was Joe, and the other one was Jerry, and they were fishermen. And they'd a young apprentice-feller, and his name was Jim. And Joe was a great one for his pot, and Jerry was a wonder at his pipe; and Jim did all the work, and both of them banged him. So one time Joe and Jerry were in the beerhouse, and there was a young parson there, telling the folk about foreign things, about plants and that. 'Ah,' he says, 'what wonders there are in the west.'
"'What sort of wonders, begging your pardon, sir,' says Joe. 'What sort of wonders might them be?'
"'Why, all sorts of wonders,' says the parson. 'Why, in the west,' he says, 'there's things you wouldn't believe. No, you wouldn't believe; not till you'd seen them,' he says. 'There's diamonds
