my purpose; and heading my prow up into it, I stepped out, and took my
way direct towards the staff--that object which for so many years I had
looked upon from afar, and with which I had longed to be more intimately
acquainted.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

SEARCH FOR A SEA-URCHIN.

I soon touched with my hands the interesting piece of wood, and felt as
proud at that moment as if it had been the North Pole itself, and I its
discoverer. I was not a little surprised at its dimensions, and how
much the distance had hitherto deceived me. Viewed from the shore, it
looked no bigger than the shaft of a hoe or a hay-fork, and the knob at
the top about equal to a fair-sized turnip. No wonder I was a bit
astonished to find the staff as thick, and thicker, than my thigh, and
the top full larger than my whole body! In fact, it was neither more
nor less than a barrel or cask of nine gallons. It was set upon end,
the top of the staff being wedged into a hole in the bottom, thus
holding it firmly. It was painted white, though this I knew before, for
often had I viewed it glistening under the sun, while the shaft below
was a dark colour. It may have been black at one time, and had grown
discoloured by the weather and the spray of the stormy water, that often
lashed all around it, even up to the barrel at the top.

Its height, too, I had miscalculated as much as its thickness. From the
land it appeared no taller than an ordinary man; but looking up to it
from the shoal, it towered above me like the mast of a sloop. It could
not have been less than twelve feet--yes, twelve it was at the very
least.

I was equally surprised at the extent of ground that I found above
water. I had long fancied that my islet was only a pole or so in size,
but I now perceived it was a hundred times that--an acre, or very near.
Most of the surface was covered with loose rocks, or "boulders," from
the size of small pebbles to pieces as big as a man's body, and there
were other rocks still larger, but these I perceived were not loose, but
half buried, and fast as rocks could be. They were only the projecting
ends of great masses that formed the strength of the reef. All, both
large ones and small ones, were coated over with a black, slimy
substance, and here and there great beds of seaweed, of different kinds,
among which I recognised some sorts that were usually cast up on our
beach, and passed by the name of "sea-wreck." With these I had already
form