has
just been spoken of, that they had a fearful lesson of the vain and
shadowy nature of human hopes and expectations. When they had first
arrived off the coast, on that expedition, they had chosen an island,
named Bernier Island, upon which to bury, for the sake of safety, their
stores and provisions, so that they might return to them whenever it
should be necessary. Bernier Island is a barren spot, formed of
limestone, shells, and sand, and without a single tree or blade of
grass upon it, but only wretched, scrubby bushes, amidst which the light
sand and shells are drifted by the winds. Such was the remote spot,
surrounded by the ocean's waves, yet not very far from the main shore,
upon which it was resolved to conceal their store of necessaries,
secure, as it was supposed, from every enemy. In little more than three
weeks, during which the adventurers had gone through many perils, and
much stormy weather, they returned again, not without some difficulty,
to their stores. But on approaching Bernier Island with their boat they
scarcely knew it again, so vast a difference had the recent storms made
in its outward appearance, so fearful were the pranks which the
hurricane had played upon a land which was, in fact, nothing but loose
sand, heaped upon a bed of limestone. The place where their stores had
been securely left was gone, the remains of the flour-casks, salt
provisions, &c. were scattered about in various directions; and the
whole spot so entirely altered that it could hardly be ascertained,
except by the fragments that were seen near it. How to get back again to
Swan River, the nearest British settlement, without provisions, without
water, without strength, was indeed a perplexing inquiry, and to answer
this the leader of the party, having left his companions for a while,
set himself seriously to work. Sitting down upon a rock on the shore,
he felt the gale blowing fiercely in his face, and the spray of the
breakers dashing over him; nothing could be more gloomy and dreary.
Inland, no objects were to be seen but a mere bed of rock covered with
drifting sand, on which were growing stunted, scrubby bushes; and former
experience taught him, that no fresh water was to be found in the
island. Several plans of escape, all apparently alike hopeless, offered
themselves to his mind, and, more fully to compose himself, he took
forth his constant companion in the wilderness, and read a few chapters
of Holy Writ. Contentmen