d; and ten savages being left on
board as hostages, a party of us, twelve in all, got in readiness to
attend the chief. We took care to be well armed, yet without evincing
any distrust. The schooner had her guns run out, her boarding-nettings
up, and every other proper precaution was taken to guard against
surprise. Directions were left with the chief mate to admit no person
on board during our absence, and, in the event of our not appearing in
twelve hours, to send the cutter, with a swivel, around the island in
search of us.

At every step we took inland the conviction forced itself upon us that
we were in a country differing essentially from any hitherto visited
by civilized men. We saw nothing with which we had been formerly
conversant. The trees resembled no growth of either the torrid, the
temperate, of the northern frigid zones, and were altogether unlike
those of the lower southern latitudes we had already traversed. The very
rocks were novel in their mass, their color, and their stratification;
and the streams themselves, utterly incredible as it may appear, had so
little in common with those of other climates, that we were scrupulous
of tasting them, and, indeed, had difficulty in bringing ourselves to
believe that their qualities were purely those of nature. At a small
brook which crossed our path (the first we had reached) Too-wit and his
attendants halted to drink. On account of the singular character of the
water, we refused to taste it, supposing it to be polluted; and it was
not until some time afterward we came to understand that such was the
appearance of the streams throughout the whole group. I am at a loss
to give a distinct idea of the nature of this liquid, and cannot do so
without many words. Although it flowed with rapidity in all declivities
where common water would do so, yet never, except when falling in
a cascade, had it the customary appearance of limpidity. It was,
nevertheless, in point of fact, as perfectly limpid as any limestone
water in existence, the difference being only in appearance. At first
sight, and especially in cases where little declivity was found, it bore
resemblance, as regards consistency, to a thick infusion of gum
arabic in common water. But this was only the least remarkable of its
extraordinary qualities. It was not colourless, nor was it of any one
uniform colour--presenting to the eye, as it flowed, every possible
shade of purple; like the hues of a changeable sil