Bourbon Island

“ There are five thousand Europeans on the island and sixty thousand blacks. The land is three times more peopled than that of the Isle of France, and it is very much better cultivated.
The manners of the old settlers of Bourbon were very simple. Most of the houses were never shut, and a lock was an object of curiosity. The people kept their savings in a shell above their door. They went barefooted, and fed on rice and coffee; they imported scarcely anything from Europe, being content to live without luxury provided they lived without trouble. ”

“ The group lies between the south end of New Ireland and the north end of the great Bougainville Island in the Solomon Archipelago, and consists of six low, well-wooded and fertile islands, enclosed within a barrier reef, forming a noble atoll, almost circular in shape. All the islands are thickly populated at the present day by natives, who are peaceable enough, and engage in bêche-de-mer and pearl-shell fishing. ”

“ Chub corrected. Harry clapped her hands.
“Couldn’t we call it that?” she asked eagerly.
“That’s its name henceforth,” replied Chub solemnly. “And we ought really to change the names of those islands there to Snip and Methuselah!”
“I’m afraid we can’t do that,” laughed Roy. “They’ve been called Treasure Island and Far Island for years.”
“I tell you, though,” cried Chub. “The Grapes [86] haven’t been named. There are eight of them. We’ll name those!”
They hurried past the point to where a cluster of tiny islets, the largest scarcely bigger than a barn door, lay just off the shore. ”

“ The islanders almost universally have a taste for oratory, by which they are easily affected; and they hold those who excel in it in high estimation.”
“It would appear then,” said Browne, “that they are not such utter heathens after all; I should never have given them credit for so much taste and sensibility.”
“You see, Browne,” said Max, “what advantages you will enjoy over the rest of us, when we get to Eiulo’s island, as Johnny is confident we are destined to do, one of these days. ”

“ Between them and Australia lie all these wonderful isles, yet not a single British ship is ever seen. We, too, have our share in Borneo, the largest island in the world next to New Guinea, yet it might not exist for all sign here of our being there. It is inexplicable.
I have always these brave old explorers in their quaint little ships in my mind here. How little has changed since they saw it, save where volcanic disturbances have altered the aspect of the land!—and such catastrophes have not been infrequent. There are the great mountain ranges—does no one want to learn their secrets? ”

“ Last Island has gone! How it went I first heard from the lips of a veteran pilot, while we sat one evening together on the trunk of a drifted cypress which some high tide had pressed deeply into the Grande Isle beach. The day had been tropically warm; we had sought the shore for a breath of living air. Sunset came, and with it the ponderous heat lifted,—a sudden breeze blew,—lightnings flickered in the darkening horizon,—wind and water began to strive together,—and soon all the low coast boomed. Then my companion began his story; perhaps the coming of the storm inspired him to speak! ”

“ But with its imposing groves of oak, its golden wealth of orange-trees, its odorous lanes of oleander.
its broad grazing-meadows yellow-starred with wild camomile, Grande Isle remains the prettiest island of the Gulf; and its loveliness is exceptional. For the bleakness of Grand Terre is reiterated by most of the other islands,—Caillou, Cassetete, Calumet, Wine Island, the twin Timbaliers, Gull Island, and the many islets haunted by the gray pelican,—all of which are little more than sand-bars covered with wiry grasses, prairie-cane, and scrub-timber. ”

“ Abreast of Wednesday, Hammond, and Good's Islands, is the NORTH-WEST REEF, an extensive coral bank, many parts of which are dry; it is ten or eleven miles long; the channel between it and the islands is from one mile and three-quarters to two miles and a quarter wide.
BOOBY ISLAND (latitude of its centre 10 degrees 36 minutes, longitude 141 degrees 52 minutes 50 seconds) is a small rocky islet of scarcely a third of a mile in diameter; its south-west end has a shoal projecting from it for half a mile, but its other sides are bold to. ”

“ Lying nearly forty miles west of Grande Isle, it was nevertheless far more populated a generation ago: it was not only the most celebrated island of the group, but also the most fashionable watering-place of the aristocratic South;—to-day it is visited by fishermen only, at long intervals. Its admirable beach in many respects resembled that of Grande Isle to-day; the accommodations also were much similar, although finer: a charming village of cottages facing the Gulf near the western end. ”

“ The houses and fortifications were destroyed by an earthquake, and the penal establishment was discontinued.
From time to time, up to the present date, there have been straggling settlers on this island, but there has been no attempt since 1835 to colonize it permanently until recently. It has been occasionally visited by vessels of different nations for supplies of wood and water, and such vegetable productions as the valleys afford. American whalers have found it a very convenient stopping-place in their cruisings on the coast of Chili and Peru ”

“ It used to be by no means an unusual thing to find an educated person ignorant not only of Borneo's position on the map, but almost of the very existence of the island which, regarding Australia as a continent, and yielding to the claims recently set up by New Guinea, is the second largest island in the world, within whose limits could be comfortably packed England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland, with a sea of dense jungle around them, as Wallace has pointed out. ”

“ In the afternoon, the boat was hoisted out in order to try the current, when it was found to set east by south, at the rate of a mile and an half an hour; however, the current among these islands is by no means certain, as we found, on the 22d, a strong current or tide setting to the north-west. A great number of very large whales were seen, which moved exceeding slow, and came very near the vessel. At noon, the center of Burro bore south, and the south point of Sulla Bessi, north 76° west. Burro is a very high island, and may be seen at the distance of twenty leagues with great ease. ”

“ Away to the north stand out the Barnard Islands, and the island-like headland of Double-Point.
Rocky walls and ledges intersected by narrow clefts in which the sea boils, gigantic masses of detached granite split and weathered into strange shapes and corniced and bridged at high water-mark by oysters, bold escarpments and medleys of huge boulders, extend along the weather side. No landing, except in the calmest weather, is possible. To gain a sandy beach, the south-east end of the island, passing through a deep channel separating the rocky islet of Wooln-garin, must be turned. ”

“ Open at all times to the pleasant breezes from the ocean, without malaria or any thing to produce disease, beautifully diversified in scenery, and susceptible of being made a convenient stopping-place for vessels bound to the great northwestern continent, it would be difficult to find a more desirable place for a colony of intelligent and industrious people, who would cultivate the land, build good houses, and turn to advantage all the gifts of Providence which have been bestowed upon the island. ”

“ On the 30th, at five in the morning, we saw the island of Borneo, bearing west-north-west; this part of the coast is high land: we saw, at the same time, from the mast-head, a small island, bearing west-north-west; this I took to be one of the small islands which are laid down to the southward of the Taba Islands, and near in upon the coast: at eight in the evening, we tacked, and in the night, the wind came from the land, but squally, with which we stood to the southward. This part of the coast of Borneo seems to be a projecting point, and is in the latitude of 1° 02' north ”

“ The spray washed over us fearfully, and the sail shook so in the wind, having let go all, that we thought it would tear the mast out. At this time we were about three leagues from the S.E. end of the island, which was the nearest point then in sight. As the cloud spread by the attraction of the land, the whole island became wrapped in a dark shroud of mist, and in half an hour we could discern nothing but the gloom of the storm around us, as we bore down toward the darkest part on the lea. ”

“ Next morning we left, but, owing to light winds, we did not anchor in Hoop-Iron Bay, off Moresby Island, till the morning of the 22nd. The anchorage here is in an open roadstead. It is a very fine island—the vegetation from the water’s edge right up to the mountain tops. Plantations are to be seen all round. The people live in small detached companies, and are not so pleasant and friendly-looking a people as are the Teste islanders. This is the great Basilaki, and the natives are apparently the deadly foes of all the islanders round. ”

“ To gain time, however, they chose the former, as they most otherwise have coasted round the last-mentioned islands, in their way to the Moluccas. In this view, they steered along shore, or rather through an innumerable chain of small islands, extending from the western point of New Guinea to the island of Gilolo, making their passage with much difficulty and danger, and were greatly delighted and astonished on getting sight of the island of Bouro, in lat. 2° S. [3° 30' S. and long. 127° E.] the most eastern country in which the Dutch East-India Company, maintain a factory. ”

“ It has several small sandy islets scattered about it, and at low water the greater part is dry. There is doubtless a deep passage through, but it must be intricate and dangerous, and only to be attempted in a case of the most pressing emergency. On the island to the southward, are two sandy bays. The land to the southward is doubtless a part of the main: and is, like the other islands, high and rocky. It forms the eastern shore of MERMAID's STRAIT, which is an excellent port, affording safe and secure anchorage at all seasons. ”

“ The numerous patches of foul ground lying off the coast, between New River and Jacob’s River, were made visible by only a slight break on the rocks awash, and by the presence of some quaint-looking peaks in their midst. These dangers are chiefly to the eastward of Centre Island. This island is not of great height in any part, but it slopes from its summit gently to the north and east: and it is asserted that these islands in Foveaux Straits—Ruapuke, for instance—enjoy a better climate, and a more genial soil, than do some of the contiguous parts of the mainland. ”

“ Having wind enough, we were soon up with Saquish Head, and in a few minutes more were fast moored to the little jetty at Clark's Island. The presence at one time of two islands in Plymouth Bay is fully attested by competent witnesses. Many have supposed Brown's Island, a shoal seaward of Beach Point, to have been one of these, tradition affirming that the stumps of trees have been seen there. ”

“ Robben Island appears destined, under all changes, to remain a spot of melancholy interest, cut off from the mainland by a wild sea, prevailing impetuous winds, and a distance of six miles—yet constantly in sight of it—it is a fit emblem of the miserable inhabitants who have in successive ages been transported there, severed from all association with the rest of their fellow men. ”

“ LOST ISLAND! Followed by Jim, they scrambled into their boat, and shot the sails up; and in a few minutes the "Nautilus" was bobbing her way out of Shavay Bay on a course almost due southeast, her bow being in a straight line for Fanning Island. From the latter place Tempest intended to take his bearings, and then veer slightly to the south in the direction of the island Joe Flagg had indicated on the chart.
"I 'll tell you what, Tempest," the boy said when the sails were bellying and the waves were flopping against the boat's nose, "if we do happen to have made a mistake in judging Mr. ”

“ Nothing was here of that stern and inhospitable character that marked the rock-bound shores of the island. 77 A soft haze hung over the valley; a happy quiet reigned in the perfumed air; the breath of heaven touched gently the flowers that bloomed upon the sod; all was fresh and fair, and full of romantic beauty. Yet there was life in the repose; abundance within the maze of heights that encircled the dreamy solitude. Fields of wild oats waved with changing colors on the hill-sides; green meadows swept around the bases of the mountains; rich and fragrant shrubs bloomed wherever we looked ”

“ Every year we are disturbed by fears of their coming. This year I had news from Moro merchants, who came from the island of Borney, that last year their king had collected a large fleet to descend upon us. After having embarked, he gave up for the time the voyage because of the severe storms; but gave out that he would return this year and bring the Portuguese with him. I exerted myself to get together the Spaniards, who were pacifying these islands and had the island of Borney reconnoitred in two parts, by oared vessels of the sort that the natives use. ”

“ We were in such a hurry to see the famous island and still more famous islanders, that we omitted a precaution which had been earnestly impressed upon us the day before. This was not to attempt to land unless we had a Pitcairner to steer. When the long swell of the Pacific rolls in upon the shallow beaches of Sydney Bay there is no more dangerous place in the world—the roadstead of Madras hardly excepted—than the boat harbour at Norfolk Island.
Like most sailors, and man-of-war's men in particular, the crew was reckless and confident. ”