omotive power being entirely out of sight.

Johnny seemed for the moment to have forgotten every thing else, in the
contemplation of these treasures; and it was not until Arthur reminded
him that there was no one to remove or appropriate them, and that he
could get as many as he wanted at any time, that he desisted from his
work, and reluctantly consented to postpone making a collection for the
present.

Having drawn the boat high up on the beach, and armed ourselves with a
cutlass apiece, (Johnny taking possession of the longest one of the
lot), we commenced our march along the shore, to the right, without
further delay.

We had by this time scarcely a remaining doubt that the island was
uninhabited. No palm-thatched huts occupied the open spaces, or crowned
the little eminences that diversified its windward side; no wreaths of
smoke could be seen rising above the tops of the groves; no canoes, full
of tattooed savages, glided over the still waters within the reef; and
no merry troops of bathers pursued their sports in the surf. There was
nothing to impart life and animation to the scene, but the varied
evolutions of the myriads of sea-fowl, continually swooping, and
screaming around us. With this exception, a silence like that of the
first Sabbath brooded over the island, which appeared as fresh, and as
free from every trace of the presence of man, as if it had newly sprung
into existence.

With the continued absence of every indication of inhabitants our
feeling of security had increased to such an extent, that even Johnny
ventured sometimes to straggle behind, or to run on before, and
occasionally made a hasty incursion into the borders of the grove,
though he took care never to be far out of sight or hearing of the main
body. Soon after starting, we doubled a projecting promontory, and lost
sight of the boat and the islet. The reef bent round to the north,
preserving nearly a uniform distance from the shore, and was without any
break or opening.

The forest in most places, extended nearly to the beach, and was
composed chiefly of hibiscus, pandanus, and cocoa-nut trees, with here
and there a large pisonia, close to the lagoon. One gigantic specimen
of this last species, which we stopped a moment to admire, could not
have been less than twenty feet in girth. Max, Morton, Arthur, and
myself, could not quite span it, taking hold of hands, and Johnny had to
join the ring, to make it complete. For several