ch might have been our fate had we not got so close inshore,"
answered Mudge. "Again I say, let us be thankful for the mercies shown
us, and make the best of our position."

Mudge, while he was speaking, was sweeping his glass round from the
coast-line to the northward, towards the interior of the country. I
meantime was looking down on the party below the cliff, who were all
busily employed in carrying the things up from the boat, and placing
them close to the spot Mudge had already selected for pitching the
tent--in the centre of the little peninsula. Though they were, I
concluded, within musket-shot, they were too far off for an arrow to
reach them; so that, even should the natives possess such weapons, our
encampment could not be assailed from the top of the cliff. This was
satisfactory, as it made the position we had chosen a very secure one.

The spot was about a quarter of a mile from the mouth of the river. The
opposite shore was, as I have said, much lower than that on which we
stood. Close to the sea it was flat and level, with a few sand-hills
scattered over it. Farther on, the ground was undulating and thinly
covered with trees. On our side, the high ground extended as far as the
eye could reach along the bank of the river, as it did also along the
shore southward. Altogether, it appeared to me a very fine country,
such as we had reason to be thankful we had landed on.

"I can see no huts or cottages, or signs of people, though it seems
strange that so fertile a region should be uninhabited. All I can
suppose is, that the people live either underground, or in the same sort
of wretched hovels I have seen some of the South Sea Islanders dwelling
in," said Mudge; "and if so, I might have been unable to distinguish
them, even although at no great distance. Do you, Godfrey, take the
glass, and tell me what you can make out."

I did as he bade me, examining every hill-side and hollow from north to
south of our position, without discovering anything like a hut. To the
west and south-west I observed a range of blue mountains, but the
country to the southward was either level or undulating, and covered
with trees growing widely apart; so that should we decide on making our
way overland to the settlements, we should for some distance at all
events find no obstruction to our progress.

Having finished our survey, we went along the top of the cliff to the
westward, and by proceeding on a little farther w