and, where it cut the sky-line as an
undulating ridge some four hundred feet in height. The outer or seaward
face of the island was densely wooded, the foliage being of every
conceivable shade of green, variegated in places with blossoms or
flowers, in some cases snow-white, in others a delicate pink; here a
deep rich golden yellow, there a tender blue, yonder a flaming scarlet,
and, perhaps a little further on, a deep glowing crimson or an imperial
purple. And even on the larboard hand, where the cliff rose sheer from
the water, the rocky face was only bare here and there, the rest of the
cliff being thickly clothed with vegetation.

Arrived at the inner extremity of the inlet, the occupants of the gig
rounded a rocky point on their starboard hand, and found themselves in a
large basin, roughly circular in shape, measuring about two and three
quarter miles long, by about two miles wide, and completely sheltered
from every wind that could possibly blow, being absolutely landlocked.
This basin was formed by a deep indentation in the land on their
starboard hand, the shore of which, starting from the rocky point they
had just rounded, rapidly rose almost sheer from the water's-edge to
about the same height as the precipitous cliff on their left, which it
strongly resembled in general configuration, being a steep rocky face
densely covered with tropical vegetation, in and out of which, by the
way, darted numberless birds of brilliant plumage, whilst monkeys were
to be seen here and there gambolling among the branches or staring
curiously from some projecting pinnacle of rock at the new arrivals.

This basin, which had a depth of eight fathoms, with a rocky bottom in
its centre, terminated, at its inner extremity, in a short passage or
channel about half a mile wide between two bold rocky bluffs, beyond
which another large sheet of water was to be seen; and toward this the
gig was headed, the sounding-line being kept busy during the whole
progress. As the gig advanced beyond the centre of the first basin, the
water was found to shoal gradually, until exactly midway between the two
bluffs, a depth of four and a half fathoms only was given by the
sounding-line. The bluffs passed, the explorers found themselves in a
second and much larger basin, also roughly circular in shape, like the
first, but measuring about three and a half miles long by about three
miles wide. This basin also was perfectly landlocked, the water bein