earnestly looking towards the sea. As soon as he perceived
her, he called to her from a distance, 'Where is Virginia?' Mary turned her
head towards her young master, and began to weep. Paul, distracted, and
treading back his steps, ran to the harbour. He was there informed, that
Virginia had embarked at break of day, that the vessel had immediately
after set sail, and could no longer be discerned. He instantly returned to
the plantation, which he crossed without uttering a word.

"Although the pile of rocks behind us appears almost perpendicular, those
green platforms which separate their summits are so many stages by means of
which you may reach, through some difficult paths, that cone of hanging and
inaccessible rocks, called the Thumb. At the foot of that cone is a
stretching slope of ground, covered with lofty trees, and which is so high
and steep that it appears like a forest in air, surrounded by tremendous
precipices. The clouds, which are attracted round the summit of those
rocks, supply innumerable rivulets, which rush from so immense a height
into that deep valley situated behind the mountain, that from this elevated
point we do not hear the sound of their fall. On that spot you can discern
a considerable part of the island with its precipices crowned with their
majestic peaks; and, amongst others, Peterbath, and the three Peaks, with
their valley filled with woods. You also command an extensive view of the
ocean, and even perceive the Isle of Bourbon forty leagues towards the
west. From the summit of that stupendous pile of rocks Paul gazed upon the
vessel which had borne away Virginia, and which, now ten leagues out at
sea, appeared like a black spot in the midst of the ocean. He remained a
great part of the day with his eyes fixed upon this object: when it had
disappeared, he still fancied he beheld it: and when, at length, the traces
which clung to his imagination were lost amidst the gathering mists of the
horizon, he seated himself on that wild point, for ever beaten by the
winds, which never cease to agitate the tops of the cabbage and gum trees,
and the hoarse and moaning murmurs of which, similar to the distant sound
of organs, inspire a deep melancholy. On that spot. I found Paul, with his
head reclined on the rock, and his eyes fixed upon the ground. I had
followed him since break of day, and after much importunity, I prevailed
with him to descend from the heights, and return to his family. I conducted