the rocks, and fierce, voracious sharks
pursuing their prey.

There were a great variety of molluscs; indeed, the whole shore was
composed of shells. We naturally thought that the shells were empty;
but as we watched them, thousands of them began to move, each tenanted
by a soldier-crab, and a whole army of them slowly advanced out of the
sea and marched across the land, devouring all the insects they
encountered in their progress. Now and then two of them would stop and
have a fight over a beetle or a spider, when perhaps a third would step
up and carry off the cause of dispute. We found the spiders' webs
stretching in every direction between the bushes. The spiders
themselves were great, ugly, black fellows, very disagreeable to look
at, and still more unpleasant when we found them crawling over our
faces.

I wish that I could describe the variety of shrubs we found on the
island. Many were evergreens. One, which the doctor called the
suriana, emitted a peculiarly strong, though not unpleasant odour. We
used to be very glad, when the rays of the sun came down fiercely on our
heads, to take shelter under these trees, and to rest during our long
journeys from one end of our dominion to the other.

We in a short time were acquainted with nearly every portion of the
island. Our habitation was about ten miles from the entrance to the
lagoon, so that in one direction we were able to travel twenty miles,
when we arrived at the termination of that part of the circle; and by
going the other way, ten miles brought us to the end of the other. The
passage into the lagoon was probably the eighth of a mile broad.

One day Jerry and I set off, he taking the shorter distance and I the
long way, that we might have the pleasure of looking at each other
across the passage. I do not know that we had any better reason.
Accompanied by old Surley, I set off by daybreak, as over such rough
ground it was difficult to make good more than two miles an hour. It
was therefore the evening when I got there. I looked eagerly across the
channel. There stood Jerry, shouting and beckoning to me. I shouted to
him, and made all sorts of signals expressive of my delight at seeing
him.

After we had played these sorts of antics for some time, I began to
consider that it would be rather tiresome to have to walk all the way
back by myself, and that either I must go across to Jerry, or get him to
come over to me. I was the best swimmer, s