valley which I have described as crossing the island; the other
opposite our own valley, which we afterwards named the Valley of
the Wreck. At each of these openings the reef rose into two small
green islets, covered with bushes and having one or two cocoa-nut
palms on each. These islets were very singular, and appeared as if
planted expressly for the purpose of marking the channel into the
lagoon. Our captain was making for one of these openings the day
we were wrecked, and would have reached it too, I doubt not, had
not the rudder been torn away. Within the lagoon were several
pretty, low coral islands, just opposite our encampment; and,
immediately beyond these, out at sea, lay about a dozen other
islands, at various distances, from half a mile to ten miles; all
of them, as far as we could discern, smaller than ours and
apparently uninhabited. They seemed to be low coral islands,
raised but little above the sea, yet covered with cocoa-nut trees.

All this we noted, and a great deal more, while we sat on the top
of the mountain. After we had satisfied ourselves we prepared to
return; but here again we discovered traces of the presence of man.
These were a pole or staff and one or two pieces of wood which had
been squared with an axe. All of these were, however, very much
decayed, and they had evidently not been touched for many years.

Full of these discoveries we returned to our encampment. On the
way we fell in with the traces of some four-footed animal, but
whether old or of recent date none of us were able to guess. This
also tended to raise our hopes of obtaining some animal food on the
island, so we reached home in good spirits, quite prepared for
supper, and highly satisfied with our excursion.