six bells in the afternoon we had neared it to within three
miles, and were enabled to see that its northern extremity was bold and
precipitous, with naked, rocky cliffs, against the base of which the
white surf chafed and roared with a ceaseless thunder that reached our
ears even at that distance. The south-western extremity, while as bold
as the northern, and almost as precipitous, was wooded right down to the
water's edge; while from the lofty hill, that in the distance had borne
the appearance of a gigantic human nose, there was an irregular but
general slope toward the south-western shore; the entrance to the river
mentioned in the cryptogram being clearly indicated by a low projecting
point stretching southward from the bold cliffs marking the northern
boundary of the island.

Having satisfactorily made out the mouth of the river, I caused the helm
to be shifted, and we bore away for our anchorage, which was reached
about an hour later, in a small estuary situate at the southern
extremity of the island, affording perfect shelter from all winds from
south-west round by north and east to south-east.

By the time that the hands had got the canvas stowed, yards squared,
running gear hauled taut and coiled down, and decks cleared up
generally, it was five o'clock in the evening; and the shadows were
already beginning to deepen on the western side of the ravine along
which the river flowed, while its eastern slopes were glowing
brilliantly in the warm orange tones of the evening sunlight. It
chanced that we had dropped our anchor at the precise spot which
afforded us a clear view up the gently winding river for a distance of
something like a quarter of a mile, and never in all my life had I
looked upon a more lovely scene than the one that then delighted our
eyes. The so-called "river" was really a small arm of the sea formed by
a beautiful ravine--the bottom of which lay below the sea level--
dividing the southern portion of the island into two unequal parts; and
as the western side of this ravine was high and steep, while the eastern
side sloped gently but unevenly up from the water until it merged in the
high ground beyond, the whole surface of the island being finely broken
and densely wooded, the contrasting effects of brilliant sunshine and
soft purple shadow, with the multitudinous tints and endless varieties
of foliage, vividly marked in the foreground and insensibly merging into
a delicious, soft, misty gr