everywhere. We now determined to follow up
the track as far as it went, and Peterkin put the cat down; but it
seemed to be so weak, and mewed so very pitifully, that he took it up
again and carried it in his arms, where in a few minutes it fell sound
asleep.

About ten yards farther on, the felled trees became more numerous, and
the track, diverging to the right, followed for a short space the banks
of a stream. Suddenly we came to a spot where once must have been a
rude bridge, the stones of which were scattered in the stream, and those
on each bank entirely covered over with moss. In silent surprise and
expectancy we continued to advance, and a few yards farther on, beheld,
under the shelter of some bread-fruit trees, a small hut or cottage. I
cannot hope to convey to my readers a very correct idea of the feelings
that affected us on witnessing this unexpected sight. We stood for a
long time in silent wonder, for there was a deep and most melancholy
stillness about the place that quite overpowered us; and when we did at
length speak, it was in subdued whispers, as if we were surrounded by
some awful or supernatural influence. Even Peterkin's voice, usually so
quick and lively on all occasions, was hushed now; for there was a
dreariness about this silent, lonely, uninhabited cottage--so strange in
its appearance, so far away from the usual dwellings of man, so old,
decayed, and deserted in its aspect that fell upon our spirits like a
thick cloud, and blotted out as with a pall the cheerful sunshine that
had filled us since the commencement of our tour round the island.

The hut or cottage was rude and simple in its construction. It was not
more than twelve feet long by ten feet broad, and about seven or eight
feet high. It had one window, or rather a small frame in which a window
might perhaps once have been, but which was now empty. The door was
exceedingly low, and formed of rough boards, and the roof was covered
with broad cocoa-nut and plantain leaves. But every part of it was in a
state of the utmost decay. Moss and green matter grew in spots all over
it. The woodwork was quite perforated with holes; the roof had nearly
fallen in, and appeared to be prevented from doing so altogether by the
thick matting of creeping plants and the interlaced branches which years
of neglect had allowed to cover it almost entirely; while the thick,
luxuriant branches of the bread-fruit and other trees spread above it,