in a foot of the water's edge, but had now receded from the
shore to a distance of nine or ten feet. I must own that I was surprised
at the circumstance, which was quite unaccountable: but still did not
feel inclined to leave the island, without first obtaining the necessary
supply of provisions. I pointed out to the men, that although I could
not explain so strange an incident, yet as we had seen and heard
nothing, and should certainly starve if we went to sea without
provisions, it would be better to remain until we had procured a supply:
observing that it was not impossible that the water might have receded,
instead of the island having advanced. The latter remark seemed to quiet
them, although at the time that I made it, I knew it to be incorrect, as
the rocks above water near the beach were not higher out of it than
before. This the seamen did not pay attention to, and I took care not to
point it out to them. They agreed with my supposition, that the water
had receded, and said no more about it.

We remained a fortnight longer, during which the same phenomenon
continued, each day the salt pans and coppers being further off from the
beach. At last the men perceiving that the rocks did not rise higher
from the water again became alarmed, and broke out into open mutiny. By
this time I had cured a sufficiency of provisions, and I made no
objection, indeed I must confess that I was by no means easy in my own
mind at these supernatural appearances. We struck our tents, sent every
thing on board, rove the rigging, bent the sails, and prepared for our
departure. Soon after we repaired on board, I happened to cast my eyes
upon the lead line, which was hanging over from the main chains, and
observed that it lay in a bight; hauling up the slack, I found, to my
surprise, that instead of five fathoms water in which we had anchored,
we were in less than three.

At first it occurred to me that this was a floating island, like the one
I before described, and that it was gradually rising more to the
surface; but this idea did not satisfy me. Throwing the lead and line in
the boat, I pushed off, and sounded in several directions, and had the
mortification to find that in the passage which the ship had entered,
there was now not sufficient water for her to go out again, even if we
were to have discharged the whole cargo. I soon discovered the cause of
this apparent mystery; for as I went further out on the reef, I found
that whole t