of even the steepest hills, were free from all bushes and
underwood, affording an easy passage through every part of them; and
the irregularities of the hills and precipices, in the northern part
of the island, traced out, by their various combinations, a great
number of romantic vallies, most of which were pervaded by streams
of the purest water, which tumbled in beautiful cascades from rock to
rock, as the bottoms of the vallies happened to be broken into sudden
descents by the course of the neighbouring hills. Some particular
spots occurred in these vallies where the shade and fragrance of the
contiguous woods, the loftiness of the overhanging rocks, and the
transparency and frequent cascades of the streams, presented scenes of
such elegance and dignity, as would with difficulty be rivalled in
any other part of the globe. Here, perhaps, the simple productions of
unassisted nature may be said to excel all the fictitious descriptions
of the most fertile imagination.

The piece of ground which the commodore chose in which to pitch his
tent, was a small lawn on a gentle ascent, about half a mile from
the sea. In front of the tent was a large avenue, opening through the
woods to the shore, and sloping with a gentle descent to the water,
having a prospect of the bay and the ships at anchor. This lawn was
screened behind by a wood of tall myrtle trees, sweeping round in a
crescent form, like a theatre, the slope on which the wood grew rising
more rapidly than the open lawn, yet not so much but that the hills
and precipices of the interior towered considerably above the tops of
the trees, and added greatly to the beauty and grandeur of the view.
There were also two streams of water, pure as the finest crystal,
which ran to the right and left of the tent within the distance of an
hundred yards, and which, shaded by trees skirting either side of the
lawn, completed the symmetry of the whole.

It only now remains that we should mention the animals and provisions
which we met with at this island. Former writers have related that
this island abounded with vast numbers of goats, and their accounts
are not to be questioned, as this place was the usual resort of the
buccaneers and privateers who used formerly to frequent these seas.
There are two instances, one of a _musquito_ Indian, and the other of
Alexander Selkirk, a Scotsman, who were left here by their respective
ships, and lived alone upon the island for some years, and we