Mafatu starts work on his canoe and makes the tools he will need for survival. He finds that his experience with the tasks he was responsible for in Hikueru comes in handy and he feels thankful for the chores he used to dislike. He uses fire to fell a tree for his canoe and makes a raft of bamboo so he can catch fish on the reef. While Mafatu works, Uri is always beside him, and Kivi comes and goes, always returning at sundown. Mafatu finds a mulberry tree and uses the inner white fiber to make clothing for himself. He knows that returning to Hikueru with good clothing will showcase his skill in living off the land. Other tasks keep Mafatu busy as well, such as making his lean-to into a house, fashioning fishhooks from bone, and making rope.

One day, Mafatu finds a whale skeleton and is overjoyed to bring all the bones back to camp. He plans to use them to make an ax, a knife, and more fishhooks. He spends hours carving and grinding the blades for the ax and knife on a slab of basalt. As he works, he thinks of the hammerhead shark that has been breaking into his bamboo fish trap.