As a small boy of about nine or ten, Neville traveled to what were then the Danish-owned Virgin Islands (St. Thomas, St. John, and Santa Cruz) and stayed at a boarding house where oysters were served. Never having seen them before, he copied a lady's elaborate preparation -- horseradish, Tabasco, and the rest -- expecting the same pleasure she showed, but found the taste of his first oyster revolting. He uses the memory to illustrate that taste, like a taste for drink or the failed attempt to acquire a taste for smoking, is something acquired rather than innate -- he now loves oysters, especially the eastern variety.