re
clothed with the same luxuriant vegetation.

The diameter of the island seemed to be about ten miles, and, as it was
almost circular in form, its circumference must have been thirty
miles;--perhaps a little more, if allowance be made for the numerous bays
and indentations of the shore. The entire island was belted by a beach
of pure white sand, on which laved the gentle ripples of the lagoon. We
now also observed that the coral reef completely encircled the island;
but it varied its distance from it here and there, in some places being a
mile from the beach, in others, a few hundred yards, but the average
distance was half a mile. The reef lay very low, and the spray of the
surf broke quite over it in many places. This surf never ceased its
roar, for, however calm the weather might be, there is always a gentle
swaying motion in the great Pacific, which, although scarce noticeable
out at sea, reaches the shore at last in a huge billow. The water within
the lagoon, as before said, was perfectly still. There were three narrow
openings in the reef; one opposite each end of the valley which I have
described as crossing the island; the other opposite our own valley,
which we afterwards named the Valley of the Wreck. At each of these
openings the reef rose into two small green islets, covered with bushes
and having one or two cocoa-nut palms on each. These islets were very
singular, and appeared as if planted expressly for the purpose of marking
the channel into the lagoon. Our captain was making for one of these
openings the day we were wrecked, and would have reached it too, I doubt
not, had not the rudder been torn away. Within the lagoon were several
pretty, low coral islands, just opposite our encampment; and, immediately
beyond these, out at sea, lay about a dozen other islands, at various
distances, from half a mile to ten miles; all of them, as far as we could
discern, smaller than ours and apparently uninhabited. They seemed to be
low coral islands, raised but little above the sea, yet covered with
cocoa-nut trees.

All this we noted, and a great deal more, while we sat on the top of the
mountain. After we had satisfied ourselves we prepared to return; but
here again we discovered traces of the presence of man. These were a
pole or staff and one or two pieces of wood which had been squared with
an axe. All of these were, however, very much decayed, and they had
evidently not been touched for many yea