red fragment of a sail,
showing us that she had run stem on into her present position. As her
stern could be approached by water which was quite smooth, we ran the
boats under it, and climbed on board. The sea had made a clean breach
through the stern, and inundated the cabin, which presented a scene of
ruin and desolation. The bulkheads had been knocked away; the contents
of the sideboard, and sleeping-places, and lockers, all lay scattered
about, shattered into fragments, in the wildest confusion, among sand,
and slimy sea-weed, and shells, which thickly coated the whole of the
lower part of the cabin; while the hold itself, between which and the
cabin all the partitions had been knocked away, was full of water. No
living being remained on board to tell us how the catastrophe had
occurred. On going forward, we found that the rocks between which she
was jammed were separated from the shore, and that without a boat it
would have been difficult to get aboard. After the captain had examined
the wreck, he gave it as his opinion that she had been there three or
four years, if not longer. One thing appeared certain, that she could
not have got where she was without people on board to steer her; and
then the question arose, what had become of them?

If any of them were still alive on the shore, they must long ago have
seen the ship, and would have been waiting to receive us. The captain
thought that they might have possibly been taken off by another ship
soon after the wreck; still he resolved not to return without having
searched thoroughly for them. We pulled round astern of the wreck, and
there, in a sort of natural dock, found an easy landing-place.

As we walked across the island, we found that some of the lower spots,
the dells and valleys, produced a greater amount of vegetation than had
appeared at a distance; but could not retrieve the character of
desolation given by the black, barren hills, and dark abrupt cliffs
which arose on every side. We had given up all expectation of finding
anyone alive, or any signs of the spot ever having been inhabited, when
we heard a cry from Newman, who had wandered a little on one side.

We found him standing on a green hillock, raised a little above the
valley, whence on one side a wide view over the blue sparkling sea could
be obtained, with some shrubs of semi-tropical luxuriance, and the
bright yellow sands forming the foreground, while behind arose the dark
frowning