eaman, thrust ashore in a boat upon an isle at which no ship
ever touched, owing to its peculiar sterility and the shoals about it,
and from which all other parts of the group were hidden--this man,
feeling that it was sure death to remain there, and that nothing worse
than death menaced him in quitting it, killed seals, and inflating their
skins, made a float, upon which he transported himself to Charles's
Island, and joined the republic there.

But men, not endowed with courage equal to such desperate attempts, find
their only resource in forthwith seeking some watering-place, however
precarious or scanty; building a hut; catching tortoises and birds; and
in all respects preparing for a hermit life, till tide or time, or a
passing ship arrives to float them off.

At the foot of precipices on many of the isles, small rude basins in the
rocks are found, partly filled with rotted rubbish or vegetable decay,
or overgrown with thickets, and sometimes a little moist; which, upon
examination, reveal plain tokens of artificial instruments employed in
hollowing them out, by some poor castaway or still more miserable
runaway. These basins are made in places where it was supposed some
scanty drops of dew might exude into them from the upper crevices.

The relics of hermitages and stone basins are not the only signs of
vanishing humanity to be found upon the isles. And, curious to say, that
spot which of all others in settled communities is most animated, at
the Enchanted Isles presents the most dreary of aspects. And though it
may seem very strange to talk of post-offices in this barren region, yet
post-offices are occasionally to be found there. They consist of a stake
and a bottle. The letters being not only sealed, but corked. They are
generally deposited by captains of Nantucketers for the benefit of
passing fishermen, and contain statements as to what luck they had in
whaling or tortoise-hunting. Frequently, however, long months and
months, whole years glide by and no applicant appears. The stake rots
and falls, presenting no very exhilarating object.

If now it be added that grave-stones, or rather grave-boards, are also
discovered upon some of the isles, the picture will be complete.

Upon the beach of James's Isle, for many years, was to be seen a rude
finger-post, pointing inland. And, perhaps, taking it for some signal of
possible hospitality in this otherwise desolate spot--some good hermit
living there with his m