ir admiration. They
coasted along as close in as possible, so as to notice everything,
avoiding always the trunks of trees which floated here and there.
Several times also they anchored, and Gideon Spilett took photographs
of the superb scenery.

About noon the _Bonadventure_ arrived at the mouth of Falls River.
Beyond, on the left bank, a few scattered trees appeared, and three
miles further even these dwindled into solitary groups among the
western spurs of the mountain, whose arid ridge sloped down to the
shore.

What a contrast between the northern and southern part of the coast!
In proportion as one was woody and fertile so was the other rugged and
barren! It might have been designated as one of those iron coasts, as
they are called in some countries, and its wild confusion appeared to
indicate that a sudden crystallisation had been produced in the yet
liquid basalt of some distant geological sea. These stupendous masses
would have terrified the settlers if they had been cast at first on
this part of the island! They had not been able to perceive the
sinister aspect of this shore from the summit of Mount Franklin, for
they overlooked it from too great a height, but viewed from the sea it
presented a wild appearance which could not perhaps be equalled in any
corner of the globe.

The _Bonadventure_ sailed along this coast for the distance of half a
mile. It was easy to see that it was composed of blocks of all sizes,
from twenty to three hundred feet in height, and of all shapes, round
like towers, prismatic like steeples, pyramidal like obelisks, conical
like factory chimneys. An iceberg of the Polar seas could not have
been more capricious in its terrible sublimity! Here, bridges were
thrown from one rock to another; there, arches like those of a wave,
into the depths of which the eye could not penetrate; in one place,
large vaulted excavations presented a monumental aspect; in another, a
crowd of columns, spires, and arches, such as no Gothic cathedral ever
possessed. Every caprice of nature, still more varied than those of
the imagination, appeared on this grand coast, which extended over a
length of eight or nine miles.

Cyrus Harding and his companions gazed, with a feeling of surprise
bordering on stupefaction. But, although they remained silent, Top,
not being troubled with feelings of this sort, uttered barks which
were repeated by the thousand echoes of the basaltic cliff. The
engineer even observed