creased, he could work
with the paddle.

Presently he furled the sail, took his paddle, and set his face for the
land. He laboured steadily, but made no apparent progress. The canoe was
heavy, and the outrigger or beam, which was of material use in sailing,
was a drawback to paddling. He worked till his arms grew weary, and
still the blue land seemed as far off as ever.

But by the time the sun began to approach the horizon, his efforts had
produced some effect, the shore was visible, and the woods beyond. They
were still five miles distant, and he was tired; there was little chance
of his reaching it before night. He put his paddle down for refreshment
and rest, and while he was thus engaged, a change took place. A faint
puff of air came; a second, and a third; a tiny ripple ran along the
surface. Now he recollected that he had heard that the mariners depended
a great deal on the morning and the evening--the land and the
Lake--breeze as they worked along the shore. This was the first breath
of the Land breeze. It freshened after a while, and he re-set his sail.

An hour or so afterwards he came near the shore; he heard the thrushes
singing, and the cuckoo calling, long before he landed. He did not stay
to search about for a creek, but ran the canoe on the strand, which was
free of reeds or flags, a sign that the waves often beat furiously
there, rolling as they must for so many miles. He hauled the canoe up as
high as he could, but presently when he looked about him he found that
he was on a small and narrow island, with a channel in the rear. Tired
as he was, yet anxious for the safety of his canoe, he pushed off again,
and paddled round and again beached her with the island between her and
the open Lake. Else he feared if a south wind should blow she might be
broken to pieces on the strand before his eyes. It was prudent to take
the precaution, but, as it happened, the next day the Lake was still.

He could see no traces of human occupation upon the island, which was of
small extent and nearly bare, and therefore, in the morning, paddled
across the channel to the mainland, as he thought. But upon exploring
the opposite shore, it proved not to be the mainland, but merely another
island. Paddling round it, he tried again, but with the same result; he
found nothing but island after island, all narrow, and bearing nothing
except bushes. Observing a channel which seemed to go straight in among
these islets, he resolved