s very irregular, and was almost completely
covered with trees of various kinds, interspersed with small patches of
open grass land. The island rose sheer from the sea everywhere except
in one spot inside the harbour, where the grass sloped down to the
water's edge, and at another spot on the north-western shore, where, for
a length of about a mile, the land sloped seaward to a strip of white
beach.

The source of the rivulet which discharged into the sea appeared to be
situated about three-quarters of a mile south of the spot whereon I
stood; and from that point it was easy for the eye to follow its course
past our cavern and down its steep, rocky course to the harbour. The
whole of the ravine which it traversed lay open to my gaze, and I was
now able to assure myself with full conviction that our cavern could
only be approached from one direction, namely, the narrow ledge which we
had traversed to reach it.

The island was to all appearance uninhabited, save by ourselves. There
were no canoes on the beach to the north-west, nor any sign of smoke
indicating the existence of a village; yet, if not near the harbour,
that is where a village would certainly be, since it was the only place
where men could possibly beach their canoes--and the idea of inhabitants
of an island without canoes was unthinkable. Nevertheless, although I
felt convinced that our party were the only people on the island, I
determined to make my exploration complete. Accordingly, after a long,
last, lingering look round me, I plunged down the northern slope of the
cone, and pushed northward through the forest; arriving at the most
northern extremity of the island, dead tired, about sunset.

I camped in the open that night, finding abundance of food wherewith to
satisfy my hunger, but no water. This latter, however, was of trivial
importance, since the fruit staved off any excessive feeling of thirst;
yet it tended to confirm my conviction that there were no natives to be
found in this part of the island. On the following morning I followed
the western line of the cliffs until I reached the beach aforementioned,
when I descended to it and most carefully examined its whole surface in
search of human footprints. I found not the slightest trace of one on
the entire stretch of beach; therefore, perfectly satisfied at last that
we had the whole island to ourselves, I shaped a course for "home", as I
already began mentally to name the cavern, reach