we said and saw during the course of this
second day, as we did not make any further discoveries of great
importance. The shore along which we travelled, and the various parts
of the woods through which we passed, were similar to those which have
been already treated of. There were one or two observations that we
made, however, and these were as follows:

We saw that, while many of the large fruit-bearing trees grew only in
the valleys, and some of them only near the banks of the streams, where
the soil was peculiarly rich, the cocoa-nut palm grew in every place
whatsoever--not only on the hillsides, but also on the seashore, and
even, as has been already stated, on the coral reef itself, where the
soil, if we may use the name, was nothing better than loose sand mingled
with broken shells and coral rock. So near to the sea, too, did this
useful tree grow, that in many places its roots were washed by the spray
from the breakers. Yet we found the trees growing thus on the sands to
be quite as luxuriant as those growing in the valleys, and the fruit as
good and refreshing also. Besides this, I noticed that on the summit of
the high mountain, which we once more ascended at a different point from
our first ascent, were found abundance of shells and broken coral
formations, which, Jack and I agreed, proved either that this island
must have once been under the sea, or that the sea must once have been
above the island: in other words, that as shells and coral could not
possibly climb to the mountain-top, they must have been washed upon it
while the mountain-top was on a level with the sea. We pondered this
very much; and we put to ourselves the question, "What raised the island
to its present height above the sea?" But to this we could by no means
give to ourselves a satisfactory reply. Jack thought it might have been
blown up by a volcano; and Peterkin said he thought it must have jumped
up of its own accord! We also noticed, what had escaped us before, that
the solid rocks of which the island was formed were quite different from
the live coral rocks on the shore, where, the wonderful little insects
were continually working. They seemed, indeed, to be of the same
material--a substance like limestone; but while the coral rocks were
quite full of minute cells in which the insects lived, the other rocks
inland were hard and solid, without the appearance of cells at all. Our
thoughts and conversations on this subject we