the exception of the
sailor, scarcely slept as well on board the "Bonadventure" as they would
have done in their rooms at Granite House, but they did sleep however.
Pencroft set sail at break of day, and by going on the larboard tack
they could keep close to the shore.

The colonists knew this beautiful wooded coast, since they had already
explored it on foot, and yet it again excited their 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 crystallization 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 equaled 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 t