wreck and proceeded
systematically to salve the entire contents of the lazarette, with the
result that, before the day's work was ended, they had found cases
yielding no less than one thousand rounds of gun ammunition and two
thousand revolver cartridges, all of which proved to be in perfect
condition. We were thus pretty well provided with the means of
self-defence, and, given something in the nature of a fairly strong
defensive position, ought to be able to render a reasonably good account
of ourselves.

The next thing to be done was to find that defensive position; the
following day was therefore devoted to a thorough exploration of the
island by the entire party, the expedition setting out immediately after
breakfast, each of us being armed with cutlass, gun, and a brace of
revolvers, with a good supply of cartridges in our pockets. Thus far we
had observed nothing indicating that the island was inhabited by others
than ourselves: but it must be remembered that the schooner had been
wrecked in a bay hemmed in on the land side by cliffs, and that hitherto
our farthest excursion had been to the top of the cliffs and just the
few yards inland which were necessary to enable us to procure bananas
from the trees growing right up to the cliff edge; the remainder of the
island was therefore, so far, a _terra incognita_ to us all, and might,
for aught that we could tell to the contrary, be swarming with savages.
We therefore decided to proceed with caution, all keeping close
together.

To scale the cliff proved a very easy matter, for the carpenter and
sailmaker had, on their first day ashore, found what might be termed a
sort of natural stairway zigzagging up it, consisting of a series of
rock projections, or ledges, up and down which it was possible to pass
with little or no difficulty, and which served our purpose admirably.

Having climbed this stairway, we found ourselves at the top of the cliff
and confronted by a dense undergrowth of jungle, consisting for the most
part of an inextricable tangle of tough creepers, interspersed with
shrubs and trees of various kinds, many of which seemed to be fruit
bearers. Among these we recognised the plantain, banana, custard-apple,
loquat, granadilla, guava, pawpaw, and some others with which none of us
were acquainted; the fruit, however, was neither very plentiful nor very
fine, most of the trees being so completely smothered with creepers that
they could get neither sun,