I was now once more haunted by the thought of being marooned in a
strange country, so that I remained awake, bemoaning my fate and
blaming myself for not having taken better precautions against such a
mishap. These reflections led me so far that I began to form a project
against my life, but the dawn dissipated my gloomy ideas, when I made
up my mind to trust to Providence, which had protected me through so
many perils.
I then mounted the high land to scan the horizon, but no sign of the
ship could I see, so I knew myself to be again a castaway. The island
appeared to be one of considerable size, very fertile and well watered.
The verdure inland was unusually luxuriant, even for the tropics. From
the centre of the island rose a mountain, with a smoke-cloud banging
upon it, which proved it to be an active volcano.
The storm had passed, and the weather was pleasant, the beat not
excessive, being tempered with a land breeze. I descended after a while
into a valley, where I noticed a number of fresh-water ponds, at one of
which I knelt down to drink, when I perceived a prodigious quantity of
bivalve shells of one single species, which formed a kind of beach, in
breadth about fifteen feet.
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