and wails which had marked the first stage of his
derangement.

The mutterings to which we have referred were seldom coherent; but the
disjointed utterances sufficed to indicate the natural character of the
man. As the ruling passion is said to become dominant in death, so, in
this death of reason which appeared to have passed upon Zeppa, love of
his wife and child and the natives of Ratinga, as well as profound
reverence and love to his God, became conspicuous in the broken
sentences that occasionally dropped from his lips.

At first he had been like some grand instrument thrown wildly out of
tune and swept by a reckless hand. Now he resembled the same instrument
with the framework shattered, the strings hanging loose, and the music
of discord as well as harmony gone for ever.

Oh it was sad, inexpressibly sad, to see the grand and good man--the
image of himself, yet not himself, with bowed head and bent form, the
very personification of humility--wandering forth on that lonely island
of the southern seas!

After quitting the shore he continued slowly to ascend the mountain
until he gained the summit. Here, seating himself on a rock, he lifted
his eyes and looked slowly around him.

It was a glorious sight that met his unintelligent gaze. On the side
which he had ascended, the mountain sloped abruptly into the sea, yet
its precipices were not forbidding or gloomy, for they were clothed with
the luxuriant and lovely vegetation of those favoured regions.

The rocks were fringed with grasses and wild flowers; the cliffs were
softened by palmated leaves and gorgeous shrubs. Wild fruits in
abundance grew on every side; in short, the land presented the
appearance of a terrestrial paradise.

On the other side of the range similar, but softer, scenery rolled away
for several miles in easy slopes, until it terminated in a plain, the
farther end of which was bounded by the white sands of the shore.

Around all lay the great sea, like a transparent blue shield, on which
the sun glinted in myriad ripples of burnished gold. Everywhere God's
work was glorious, but God's image in man was not there, for poor Zeppa
looked upon it all with total indifference.

The schooner was still visible from that lofty outlook, like a snowflake
on the sea; but Zeppa saw it, or regarded it, not. On the shore of the
island furthest from the mountain, the clustering huts of a native
village could be seen; but Zeppa looked at it without