having eaten anything that morning, we gathered a few of the nuts
and breakfasted. After this we pulled straight out to sea and
landed on the coral reef.

This was indeed a novel and interesting sight to us. We had now
been so long on shore that we had almost forgotten the appearance
of breakers, for there were none within the lagoon; but now, as we
stood beside the foam-crested billow of the open sea, all the
enthusiasm of the sailor was awakened in our breasts; and, as we
gazed on the wide-spread ruin of that single magnificent breaker
that burst in thunder at our feet, we forgot the Coral Island
behind us; we forgot our bower and the calm repose of the scented
woods; we forgot all that had passed during the last few months,
and remembered nothing but the storms, the calms, the fresh breezes
and the surging billows of the open sea.

This huge, ceaseless breaker, to which I have so often alluded, was
a much larger and more sublime object than we had at all imagined
it to be. It rose many yards above the level of the sea, and could
be seen approaching at some distance from the reef. Slowly and
majestically it came on, acquiring greater volume and velocity as
it advanced, until it assumed the form of a clear watery arch,
which sparkled in the bright sun. On it came with resistless and
solemn majesty, - the upper edge lipped gently over, and it fell
with a roar that seemed as though the heart of Ocean were broken in
the crash of tumultuous water, while the foam-clad coral reef
appeared to tremble beneath the mighty shock!

We gazed long and wonderingly at this great sight, and it was with
difficulty we could tear ourselves away from it. As I have once