ews that we had found water, but also
something in the way of food for our supper. Lancelot, for one,
expressed his confidence that there must be game of various kinds in so
thickly a wooded place, and when Lancelot expressed an opinion I and the
others with me always listened to it like Gospel.

Luckily for us, we soon found one and then another spring of fresh
water. But it took us a matter of three days to explore that island
thoroughly, for it was very hilly, and in many parts the woods were
well-nigh impenetrable in spite of our axes. Most of the trees and
shrubs had at this time either blossoms or berries on them, red, white,
and yellow, that filled the air with sweet and pungent odours. It was a
large island, and on the other side of the ridge of hills which rose up
so sharply from the place where we first landed the land stretched
almost level for a considerable distance before it dropped again in low
cliffs to the sea. Part of this plain was grass-grown land, not unlike
English down land, but in other parts the grass grew in great tufts as
big as a bush, intermixed with much heath, such as we have on our
commons in England; part of it was thickly grown with all manner of
bright flowers and creeping plants, that knotted themselves together in
such an entanglement that it was very hard to cut a path. We had need to
go carefully here, for suspicion of snakes. We found no sign of savage
wild beasts, though of harmless ones there were plenty, some of which
made very good meat. As for savages, we saw none; and as far as we could
make out we were the only human beings upon the island. Yet Lancelot,
who was wonderfully quick at noting things, thought that he detected
signs here and there which went to show that we were not the first men
who had ever explored it. There were few land fowls--only eagles of the
larger sort, but five or six sorts of small birds. There were waterfowl
in abundance of many varieties, with shellfish to our hands, and good
fish for the fishing, so between the sea and the land we were in no fear
of want of victual, which cheered us very greatly.

We had rigged up some rough tents with our canvas, one apart for
Marjorie and one for me and Lancelot, and half a dozen for our men, and
altogether our condition had fair show of comfort, and to me indeed
seemed full of felicity.

Until we had thoroughly explored the island we did not deem it wise to
make our promised communication with the former isla