ve them up immediately after breakfast."

Upon my return to the deck I found that we were just entering the
estuary, the mouth of which was about three miles wide, the shore on
either side being quite low, with, here and there, narrow strips of
beach composed of sand and gravel. The low, flat shore on either side
of the inlet was backed by ranges of hills extending inland as far as
the eye could see, but whereas the low, flat country between the shore
and the base of the hills was less than a mile wide on the northern
bank, it ranged from five to twelve miles wide on the southern side.
The soil was everywhere grass-clad, the grass seeming to be very
luxuriant and about three feet high, while dotted about pretty thickly
all over the plains were clumps of palmetto, palms, trees of various
kinds--some of which would probably be the fruit-trees that had restored
Barber to life--and big clumps of bamboo and scrub. I anticipated that
it would be among those clumps of scrub that we should eventually find
the treasure hulk, if indeed the craft actually existed and was not the
figment of a madman's imagination; and I also foresaw that our search
for the hulk might easily be a very much more arduous and protracted
affair than I had anticipated, for it appeared to me that every one of
those clumps big enough to conceal the hull of a five-hundred-ton hulk
ought to be examined. There was no need, however, for us to begin our
search quite at once, for we were only entering the estuary, whereas,
according to Barber's account, the hulk lay some six or eight miles from
the entrance. This assumed distance was of course a very vague and
unreliable guide, and I therefore determined to take the ship up the
inlet about five miles, anchor her, and commence our search at that
point, gradually working our way upward. Meanwhile, the wind had come
away far enough out from the southward to enable us to hug the southern
shore as closely as we pleased; consequently although the breeze was
light we made good progress, and within an hour had reached a point at
which, I decided, our quest might very well begin. We therefore
anchored, furled all canvas, hoisted out the jolly-boat, and, making up
a search-party consisting of the four foreigners, Enderby, and myself,
went ashore and began our hunt for a craft in the existence of which I
had little or no belief.

Our chief difficulty was that we had no bearings to guide us. I
concluded that at the