Page:The crater; or, Vulcan's peak.djvu/171

OR, VULCAN S PEAK. 165 extensive range of naked rock, sand, mud, and deposit, that stretched away to the westward, for leagues. In ob vious connection with this broad reach of what might be termed bare ground, were Guano and Loam Islands ; nei ther of which was an island any longer, except as it was a part of the whole formation around it. Nevertheless, our young man was not sorry to see that the channel around the Reef still washed the bases of both those important places of deposit, leaving it in his power to transport their valuable manures by means of the raft, or boat. The situation of the ship next became the matter of Mark s most curious and interested investigation. She was clearly afloat, and the basin in which she rode had a communication on each side of it, with the sound, or inlet, that still encircled the Reef. Descending to the shore, our young mariner got into the dingui, and pulled out round the vessel, to make a more minute examination. So very limpid was the water of that sea, it was easy enough to discern a bright object on the bottom, at a depth of several fathoms. There were no streams in that part of the world to pour their deposits into the ocean, and air itself is scarce more transparent than the pure water of the ocean, when unpolluted with any foreign substances. All it wants is light, to enable the eye to reach into its mysteries for a long way. Mark could very distinctly perceive the sand beneath the Rancocus keel, and saw that the ship still floated two or three feet clear of the bottom. It was near high water, however ; and there being usually a tide of about twenty inches, it was plain enough that, on certain winds, the good old craft would come in pretty close con tact with the bottom. All expectation of ever getting the vessel out of the basin must now be certainly abandoned, since she lay in a sort of cavity, where the water was six or eight feet deeper than it was within a hundred yards on each side of her. Having ascertained these facts, Mark provided himself with a fowling-piece, provisions, &,c., and set out to ex plore his newly acquired territories on foot. His steps were first directed to the point where it appeared to the eye, that the vast range of dry land to the westward, ex tending both north and south, had become connected with