black leather, consisting of
a pair of trousers, and a long pea-jacket, very similar to those worn by
the Esquimaux Indians, which we occasionally fell in with in the
Northern Ocean. They each held a long harpoon, formed entirely of bone,
in their right hands.

I was not a little surprised at being addressed in the Patois dialect of
the Basques in my own country, which is spoken about Bayonne and other
parts adjacent to the Pyrenees. To their questions I answered, that I
was the only survivor of the crew of a whaler, which had been frozen up
in the ice, during the winter; that she had filled with water, and that
I had saved myself upon the back of a shark.

They expressed no surprise at my unheard-of conveyance to the island; on
the contrary, they merely observed, that sharks were too vicious to
ride; and asked me to accompany them to their town, an invitation which
I gladly accepted. As I walked along I observed that the island was
composed of white porous pumice-stone, without the least symptoms of
vegetation; not even a piece of moss could I discover--nothing but the
bare pumice-stone, with thousands of beautiful green lizards, about ten
inches long, playing about in every part. The road was steep, and in
several parts the rock was cut into steps to enable you to ascend.
After an hour's fatiguing walk, which I never should have accomplished
in my weak state, without the assistance of the islanders, we arrived at
the summit. The view which met my eye was striking. I was on the peak
of a chain of hills, forming an immense amphitheatre, encircling a
valley which appeared about fifteen miles in diameter, and the major
part of which was occupied by a lake of water.

I could discern what appeared to be the habitations of men on different
parts of the lake; but there was not a tree or a shrub to be seen.

"What," demanded I of the man who appeared to take the lead of the rest
of the party, "have you no trees here?"

"None whatever; and yet we can do very well without them. Do you not
observe that there is no mould; that the island is composed entirely of
pumice-stone?"

"I do," replied I. "Pray what is the name of your barren spot--and in
what part of the world are we?"

"As for its name, we call it Whale Island," replied the man; "but as for
where we are, we cannot exactly tell ourselves, for we are a floating
island, being composed entirely of pumice-stone, whose specific gravity,
as you must know, is muc