but what were deadly poisons in other lands were without effect in this strange place . people who swallowed them with the hope of dying only found that in a short time they felt better in health instead of worse . vainly they tried to imagine what death could be like . the wealthy would have given all their money and all their goods if they could but shorten their lives to two or three hundred years even . without any change to live on forever seemed to this people wearisome and sad . in the chemist shops there was a drug which was in constant demand . this was because after using it for a hundred years , it was supposed to turn the hair slightly gray and to bring about disorders of the stomach . sentaro was astonished to find that the poisonous globe - fish was served up in restaurants as a delectable dish , and hawkers in the streets went about selling sauces made of spanish flies . he never saw any one ill after eating these horrible things , nor did he ever see any one with as much as a cold . sentaro was delighted . he said to himself that he would never grow tired of living , and that he considered it profane to wish for death . he was the only happy man on the island . for his part he wished to live thousands of years and to enjoy life . he set himself up in business , and for the present never even dreamed of going back to his native land . 
everyone else wanted to die .
how was sentaro the only happy man on the island ?
how was sentaro the only happy man on the island ?