that is growing on the top of yonder bush? for I confess to being
ignorant, or, at least, doubtful on the point."

We looked towards the bush indicated, and there, to our surprise,
beheld our little boat snugly nestled among the leaves! We were
very much overjoyed at this, for we would have suffered any loss
rather than the loss of our boat. We found that the wave had
actually borne the boat on its crest from the beach into the woods,
and there launched it into the heart of this bush; which was
extremely fortunate, for had it been tossed against a rock or a
tree, it would have been dashed to pieces, whereas it had not
received the smallest injury. It was no easy matter, however, to
get it out of the bush and down to the sea again. This cost us two
days of hard labour to accomplish.

We had also much ado to clear away the rubbish from before the
bower, and spent nearly a week in constant labour ere we got the
neighbourhood to look as clean and orderly as before; for the
uprooted bushes and sea-weed that lay on the beach formed a more
dreadfully confused-looking mass than one who had not seen the
place after the inundation could conceive.

Before leaving the subject I may mention, for the sake of those who
interest themselves in the curious natural phenomena of our world,
that this gigantic wave occurs regularly on some of the islands of
the Pacific, once, and sometimes twice in the year. I heard this
stated by the missionaries during my career in those seas. They
could not tell me whether it visited all of the islands, but I was
certainly assured that it occurred periodically in some of them.