of it, and that may be of much use to us."

"Very true," said I, "let us go fetch it;" and with that we all
three rose and hastened down to the beach. I still felt a little
weak from loss of blood, so that my companions soon began to leave
me behind; but Jack perceived this, and, with his usual considerate
good nature, turned back to help me. This was now the first time
that I had looked well about me since landing, as the spot where I
had been laid was covered with thick bushes which almost hid the
country from our view. As we now emerged from among these and
walked down the sandy beach together, I cast my eyes about, and,
truly, my heart glowed within me and my spirits rose at the
beautiful prospect which I beheld on every side. The gale had
suddenly died away, just as if it had blown furiously till it
dashed our ship upon the rocks, and had nothing more to do after
accomplishing that. The island on which we stood was hilly, and
covered almost everywhere with the most beautiful and richly
coloured trees, bushes, and shrubs, none of which I knew the names
of at that time, except, indeed, the cocoa-nut palms, which I
recognised at once from the many pictures that I had seen of them
before I left home. A sandy beach of dazzling whiteness lined this
bright green shore, and upon it there fell a gentle ripple of the
sea. This last astonished me much, for I recollected that at home
the sea used to fall in huge billows on the shore long after a
storm had subsided. But on casting my glance out to sea the cause
became apparent. About a mile distant from the shore I saw the
great billows of the ocean rolling like a green wall, and falling
with a long, loud roar, upon a low coral reef, where they were
dashed into white foam and flung up in clouds of spray. This spray
sometimes flew exceedingly high, and, every here and there, a