diversified its windward side; no wreaths of smoke could be seen rising above the tops of the groves; no canoes, full of tattooed savages, glided over the still waters within the reef; and no merry troops of bathers pursued their sports in the surf. There was nothing to impart life and animation to the scene but the varied evolutions of the myriads of sea-fowl, continually swooping and screaming around us. With this exception, a silence like that of the first Sabbath brooded over the island, which appeared as fresh, and as free from every trace of the presence of man, as if it had newly sprung into existence. With the continued absence of every indication of inhabitants, our feeling of security had increased to such an extent, that even Charlie ventured sometimes to straggle behind, or to run on before, and occasionally made a hasty incursion into the borders of the grove, though he took care never to be far out of sight or hearing of the main body. Soon after starting, we doubled a projecting promontory, and lost sight of the boat and the islet. The reef bent round to the north, preserving nearly a uniform distance from the shore, and was without any break or opening. The forest in most places extended nearly to the beach, and was composed chiefly of hibiscus, pandanus, and cocoanut-trees, with here and there a large pisonia, close to the lagoon. One gigantic specimen of this last species, which we stopped a moment to admire, could not have been less than twenty feet in girth. Max, Morton, Arthur, and myself, could not quite span it, taking hold of hands, and Charlie had to join the ring to make it complete. For several hours we continued our journey pretty steadily, encountering no living thing except tern, gannets, and other sea-birds, and one troop of gaudy little paroquets glittering in green and orange and crimson. These paroquets were the only land-birds we saw during the day. Max pronounced them "frights," because of their large hooked bills and harsh discordant cries. They certainly gave Charlie a terrible "fright," and indeed startled us all a little, by suddenly taking wing with loud, hoarse screams, from a hibiscus, beneath which we were resting, without having observed that they were perched over our heads. When it was near noon, and we had travelled, as we supposed, making allowance for delays and deviations, some six or eight miles, the character of the shore suddenly changed. The white shelving beach, and the dense groves meeting it near the water, now disappeared, and were succeeded by an open strip of land bordering the lagoon, strewed with huge irregular fragments of coral rock, and seamed with gullies. The line of the forest here receded some distance from the shore, leaving a broad rounded point embracing a large area of low and barren ground, covered thinly with a growth of stunted shrubs, and a few straggling, solitary-looking trees. The lagoon was at this point quite shallow, and low rocks and coral patches appeared above the surface at short distances apart nearly to the centre of the channel. The reef opposite was entirely under water, and its position was indicated only by a line of breakers. A large portion of the point, comprising several acres, was covered with the rude nests of various aquatic birds. Many of these nests were occupied even at that hour, and the birds seemed in nowise alarmed or even disturbed by our approach. When we came very close to any of them, they would survey us with an air half angry and half inquisitive, stretching out their long necks, and screwing their heads from side to side, so as to obtain a view of us first with one eye and then with the other; this seeming to be considered indispensable to a complete and satisfactory understanding of our character and intentions. After a thorough scrutiny, they would resume their former appearance of stupid indifference, as though we were creatures altogether too unimportant to merit further notice. They all, without exccption, seemed perfectly tame and fearless, and quite ready to resent any infringement upon their rights. Charlie, while inspecting too closely the nest of one of them, curiously constructed of long stiff reeds, resembling rods of steel, suddenly received, as a rebuke for his impertinence, a blow from the wing of the offended owner, which laid him sprawling upon his back. Notwithstanding this severe lesson, the gentle and amiable aspect of a large white bird so far reassured him, that he ventured to make some friendly advances, whereupon he got so severely pecked, that he at once gave up all further attempts at familiarity with any of them. This harsh treatment, in fact, so disgusted Charlie with the whole race of sea-birds, and so impaired his faith in their innocent and inoffensive looks, that he declared he would never have anything more to do with them, "since that Deautiful white bird had bitten him so savagely, when he only offered to stroke its neck." Some of these birds were very large and strong: in several of the unoccupied nests I saw eggs as large as those of the duck: they were of different colours, some of them prettily speckled or mottled, but most were of an ash colour, or a whitish-brown. Eiulo pointed out two kinds which he said were highly prized for food, and which, as we afterwards found, were in fact nearly equal to the eggs of the domestic duck. The heat had by this time become exceedingly uncomfortable, and we concluded to halt, until it should abate a little, at the first convenient and pleasant spot. Leaving the shore, which, besides being unsheltered from the sun, was so rugged with crevices and gullies, and great irregular blocks of coral, as to be almost impassable, we entered the borders of the wood, and took a short cut across the point. Charlie, in imitation of the desert islanders of the story-books, desired to give appropriate names to all the interesting or remarkable localities with which we became acquainted. He had already christened the little island. on which we had first landed "Palm Islet," and the spot upon the opposite shore, abounding in brilliant shells, had from that circumstance received the impromptu name of "Pearl-shell Beach." He now proposed to call the point "Cape Desolation," from its waste and forbidding aspect; but finally fixed upon "Sea-bird's Point," as being more appropriate, the birds having, in fact, taken possession of nearly its entire area, which, judging from the warlike spirit they had displayed, they were likely to hold against all comers. Having crossed the point, and reached the lagoon again, we found that the shore resumed its former character. The forest again extended nearly to the beach, but it was more open, and not so thickly wooded as before, and the trees were of a finer growth, and in much greater variety, many of them being of kinds unknown to any of us. We had not proceeded far, after regaining the beach, when we espied just such a resting-place as we were in search of. "Beneath the tropic rays, Where not a shadow breaks the boundless blaze, A LITTLE way before us rose a smooth and gentle acclivity, crowned by a clump of majestic trees, which promised to afford a deeper and more grateful shade than any other spot in sight, and we accordingly made towards it. On a nearer approach, it proved to be more elevated than had at first appeared, and in order to reach the top, we were obliged to scale a long series of natural terraces, almost as regular as though they had been the work of art. From this spot there was a fine view of the shore, the lagoon, and the ocean, to the north and west. The trees that covered the level space at the summit of the ascent were varieties of a much larger growth than those generally found on the low alluvial strip of land bordering the lagoon. Conspicuous among them were the majestic candlenut, with its white leaves and orange-coloured blossoms; the inocarpus, a kind of tropical chestnut; and, most magnificent and imposing of all, a stately trec, resembling the magnolia in its foliage and manner of growth, and thickly covered with large white flowers edged with a delicate pink. The ground was level as a parlour floor, and free from brushwood or undergrowth of any kind, except a few long-leaved, fragrant ferns, and in places a thick carpet of flowering vines and creepers. The trees were stationed at such distances apart as to compose a fine open grove, and yet close enough to unite in one rich mass of foliage overhead, impenetrable to the rays of the sun, and creating a sombre and almost gloomy shade even during the fiercest glare of noonday. In one spot a number of gigantic trees were grouped nearly in a circle. Their dense tops formed a leafy dome, through which not the smallest patch of sky was visible. Around their huge, but shapely stems, which one might look upon as forming the pillars of a natural temple, a number of flowering parasites twined in luxuriant wreaths, and hung in festoons from the lower branches. A considerable space around the boles of some of these trees was completely covered by an elegant species of creeping plant, with fine cut foliage of a delicate pea-green, and large clusters of scarlet |