n
obvious connection with this broad reach of what might be termed bare
ground, were Guano and Loam Islands; neither of which was an island any
longer, except as it was a part of the whole formation around it.
Nevertheless, our young man was not sorry to see that the channel around
the Reef still washed the bases of both those important places of
deposit, leaving it in his power to transport their valuable manures by
means of the raft, or boat.

The situation of the ship next became the matter of Mark's most curious
and interested investigation. She was clearly afloat, and the basin in
which she rode had a communication on each side, of it, with the sound,
or inlet, that still encircled the Reef. Descending to the shore, our
young mariner got into the dingui, and pulled out round the vessel, to
make a more minute examination. So very limpid was the water of that
sea, it was easy enough to discern a bright object on the bottom, at a
depth of several fathoms. There were no streams in that part of the
world to pour their deposits into the ocean, and air itself is scarce
more transparent than the pure water of the ocean, when unpolluted with
any foreign substances. All it wants is light, to enable the eye to
reach into it's mysteries for a long way. Mark could very distinctly
perceive the sand beneath the Rancocus' keel, and saw that the ship
still floated two or three feet clear of the bottom. It was near high
water, however; and there being usually a tide of about twenty inches,
it was plain enough that, on certain winds, the good old craft would
come in pretty close contact with the bottom. All expectation of ever
getting the vessel out of the basin must now be certainly abandoned,
since she lay in a sort of cavity, where the water was six or eight feet
deeper than it was within a hundred yards on each side of her.

Having ascertained these facts, Mark provided himself with a
fowling-piece, provisions, &c., and set out to explore his newly
acquired territories on foot. His steps were first directed to the point
where it appeared to the eye, that the vast range of dry land to the
westward, extending both north and south, had become connected with the
Reef. If such connection existed at all, it was by two very narrow necks
of rock, of equal height, both of which had come up out of the water
under the late action, which action had considerably altered and
extended the shores of Crater Island. Sand appeared in various place