r course so rapidly that it was all I could do to jot down
the various marks as they were pointed out to me. The distance to be
traversed was, in a straight line, about ten miles, so Carera told me;
but we must have passed over fully forty miles of ground in following
the windings of this exasperating channel, for it was two o'clock in the
afternoon when we reached the entrance to the Conconil lagoons. These
lagoons extend about six miles in length, and vary in breadth from
perhaps half a mile in their widest part, to less than a hundred feet at
their narrowest. They run pretty nearly east and west and are formed by
a remarkable spit, shaped like an inverted L, jutting out from the
mainland, and some eight or nine islands of various sizes. Some of
these islands stand fair in the middle of the lagoon, as regards its
width, and where these occur the channel is exceedingly narrow, and
consequently can be very easily defended. The lagoons, in fact,
constitute a stronghold within a stronghold; and as we wound our way
slowly along, the breeze coming to us only light and fitfully through
the dense and lofty vegetation crowning the islands outside of us, my
admiration for Signor Giuseppe's sagacity in selecting such a place of
refuge grew momentarily more profound. At the same time I could not but
think, as my gaze rested for a moment upon the black turbid water upon
which we floated, whilst my offended nostrils sniffed the very
unfragrant odours which it exhaled, that the possible unhealthiness of
the place more than compensated for its exceeding safety in other
respects. However, when we reached the head of the lagoon, I found,
contrary to my expectations, that a very capital and apparently healthy
site had been pitched upon for the depot at the higher extremity of the
last lagoon--an irregular triangular-shaped piece of water about a mile
long by half a mile wide, with four small islands pretty evenly
distributed over its surface. The largest of these rose somewhat
precipitously from the water's edge to a height of about fifty or sixty
feet--quite high enough, at all events, to be above the level of the
miasmatic fogs which gather on the surface of the water toward evening--
and on the very summit of this island, deliciously embowered with noble
trees, were placed the various buildings appertaining to the piratical
community. A narrow strip of firm sandy beach fringed the island on its
eastern side; and as we opened i