y have been owing
to the currents, which must have brought it into this basin, where it
was probably retained even previously to the late eruption. The presence
of the deposit of mud, as well as the height of the surrounding rocks,
many of which were doubtless out of water previously to the phenomenon,
went to corroborate this opinion.

After working her way through a great many channels, some wide and some
narrow, some true and some false, the Bridget reached the southern verge
of the group, about noon. Mark then supposed himself to be quite twenty
miles from the Reef, and the Peak appeared very little nearer than when
he left it. This startled him on the score of distance; and, after
meditating on all his chances, the young man determined to pass the
remainder of that day where he was, in order to put to sea with as much
daylight before him as possible. He desired also to explore the coast
and islands in that vicinity, in order to complete his survey of the
cluster. He looked for a convenient place to anchor his boat,
accordingly, ate his dinner, and set out on foot to explore, armed as
usual with a fowling-piece.

In the first place, an outlet to the sea very different from that on the
eastern side of the group, was found here, on its southern. The channel
opened into a bay of some size, with an arm of rock reaching well off on
the weather side, so that no broken water was encountered in passing
into or out of it, provided one kept sufficiently clear of the point
itself. As there was abundance of room, Mark saw he should have no
difficulty in getting out into open water, here, or in getting back
again. What was more, the arm, or promontory of rock just mentioned, had
a hummock near a hundred feet in height on its extremity, that answered
admirably for a land-mark. Most of this hummock must have been above
water previously to the late eruption, though it appeared to our
explorer, that all the visible land, as he proceeded south, was lifted
higher and on a gradually-increasing scale, as if the eruption had
exerted its force at a certain point, the new crater for instance, and
raised the earth to the northward of that point, on an inclined plane.
This might account, in a measure, for the altitude of the Peak, which
was near the great crevice that must have been left somewhere, unless
materials on its opposite side had fallen to fill it up again. Most of
these views were merely speculative, though the fact of the greate