But, hallo! what have
we here?"

As he spoke, Jack began carefully to scrape away the moss and fungus from
the stump, and soon laid bare three distinct traces of marks, as if some
inscription or initials had been cut thereon. But although the traces
were distinct, beyond all doubt, the exact form of the letters could not
be made out. Jack thought they looked like J. S. but we could not be
certain. They had apparently been carelessly cut, and long exposure to
the weather had so broken them up that we could not make out what they
were. We were exceedingly perplexed at this discovery, and stayed a long
time at the place conjecturing what these marks could have been, but
without avail; so, as the day was advancing, we left it and quickly
reached the top of the mountain.

We found this to be the highest point of the island, and from it we saw
our kingdom lying, as it were, like a map around us. As I have always
thought it impossible to get a thing properly into one's understanding
without comprehending it, I shall beg the reader's patience for a little
while I describe our island, thus, shortly:--

It consisted of two mountains; the one we guessed at 500 feet; the other,
on which we stood, at 1000. Between these lay a rich, beautiful valley,
as already said. This valley crossed the island from one end to the
other, being high in the middle and sloping on each side towards the sea.
The large mountain sloped, on the side farthest from where we had been
wrecked, gradually towards the sea; but although, when viewed at a
glance, it had thus a regular sloping appearance, a more careful
observation showed that it was broken up into a multitude of very small
vales, or rather dells and glens, intermingled with little rugged spots
and small but abrupt precipices here and there, with rivulets tumbling
over their edges and wandering down the slopes in little white streams,
sometimes glistening among the broad leaves of the bread-fruit and cocoa-
nut trees, or hid altogether beneath the rich underwood. At the base of
this mountain lay a narrow bright green plain or meadow, which terminated
abruptly at the shore. On the other side of the island, whence we had
come, stood the smaller hill, at the foot of which diverged three
valleys; one being that which we had ascended, with a smaller vale on
each side of it, and separated from it by the two ridges before
mentioned. In these smaller valleys there were no streams, but they we