r, thinner rushes--they ranged from about
an eighth of an inch up to quite two inches in diameter--would make
ideal arrows. We therefore set to work, there and then, and cut about
two hundred reeds of suitable diameter, each of them being long enough
to make at least two arrows. When, toward sunset that evening, we again
reached the little islet that I had resolved to make our home--and which
I named Eden because it was so like a garden--the first thing we did was
to spread our reeds out on the grass to dry; next we rigged the tent--
for we intended to spend the night on the island--and then Billy and I
took a walk up as far as the shoulder of the hill, from which was to be
obtained a view of the sea, upon the off-chance of there being a sail of
some sort in sight. But, as I more than half expected, the ocean was
bare. We met with no adventures, unpleasant or otherwise, that night,
but enjoyed several hours of sound, dreamless sleep, and awoke refreshed
the next morning to pursue our voyage of exploration.

Nor did we meet with any adventures worth recording on the third day of
our voyage. We sailed past the eastern end of the island inhabited by
the natives, leaving it about two miles on our starboard hand as we
steered south; then we sailed past another and much bigger island, which
I estimated to measure some sixteen miles long by about fourteen miles
wide. It was in the form of a double-coned hill sloping on all sides
down to the water's edge, the higher of the two cones being about nine
hundred feet high, and the other perhaps two hundred feet less. It was
thickly wooded from beach to summit, and I had no doubt that many of the
trees we saw bore edible fruits; but we did not land to test the matter.
Rather late in the afternoon we arrived abreast another and much
smaller island that proved to be the southernmost of the group. This we
named "South Island"; and about sunset we ran into a tiny bay close to
its western extremity and, anchoring the boat, passed the night in her,
this time without disturbance of any kind.

Continuing our circumnavigation of the group, we reached the wreck again
about an hour before sunset on the fourth day of our travels, keeping
within the lagoon all the time and thus confirming my theory that the
reef completely encircled the whole group. I estimated that in the
course of those four days we sailed a distance of about one hundred and
fifty miles, but it was well worth it, for I