Pine Island

“ Pine made several pleasant arbours for him and his women to sleep in during the heat of the day, and in these they passed their time together, the females not liking to be out of his company.
Mr Pine’s family was increased, after he had lived in this island sixteen years, to forty-seven children; for his first wife brought him thirteen; his second, seven, his master’s daughter who seemed to be his greatest favourite, fifteen; and the negro, twelve, which was all the produce of the first race of mortals in this island. ”

“ Pine Island!" shouted the rebels, in concert, as they began to perceive the advantages of the proposed location.
"If the fellows don't object to working a part or the whole of the night, we might be in our new quarters before morning; and if we keep a good lookout, we may stay there two or three days before Mr. Parasyte finds out where we are."
"Pine Island! Pine Island!" was the chorus which came from the throng of boys, all of whom had gathered near the bluff.
"Those in favor of moving to-night, say ay," continued Vallington. [172]
"Ay!" shouted the students, with one voice. ”

“ I’ve seen young gunners go out more than once and not bring a thing down,” returned the old hunter.
Once more the journey up the lake was resumed, and an hour later they came in sight of Pine Island; a long narrow strip of land, located half a mile off the western shore. The island lay low at either end, with a hill about a hundred feet high in the middle. On the hill there was a patch of trees that gave to the place its name, and trees of other varieties lined the shores, interspersed here and there with brushwood. ”

“ We can swim just as well as you boys can——"
"Now, now, Betty," Frank protested laughingly, "don't exaggerate."
"I'm not," she denied indignantly. "We haven't lived in the outdoors for nothing, you know."
"Well, we shall have a chance to settle all disputes when we get to Pine Island," said Allen. "To change the subject—has anybody noticed that the sun has gone under a cloud and that there is a stiff little breeze coming up? I shouldn't wonder if we were in for a storm." [58]
"Yes, we may need our bathing suits even before we get to the island," said Betty, ruefully. ”

“ It was a wonderful island, this—where you were always stumbling into some little glade or woodland bower made especially for you. Surely this tiny garden spot of nature was even more alluring than the famous fishing pool, and the girls pushed forward eagerly.
"That big flat stone over there will be just the very thing to spread the eatables out on," said Grace, "and I guess we can all manage to get around it, too." [162]
"Of course we can," said Mollie enthusiastically. "It's exactly the right height. Oh, every thing is perfect!" ”

“ They are really going to Europe, and we girls are going to have the use of their bungalow, 'The Shadows,' for the summer. Or at least for the month and a half that is left." [46]
"Splendid, Mollie! Where is the bungalow?" inquired Betty, leaning forward eagerly. "We ought to have a wonderful time."
"Well, I hope we shall," Mollie continued. "The bungalow is on an island called Pine Island in Lake Tarracusio. They say it is a beautiful place, and it is only about a day's journey in an auto. We could make it easily." ”

“ They aren't ordinary pines, such as you may see almost anywhere on Long Island, but are of the "umbrella" sort, like those of Italy, just as beautiful if not nearly so large as those at Rome in the Pincian gardens, or at Naples, where their branches seem sketched in straight, horizontal black lines against the blue background of sea and sky. Shelter Island has one such pine, under which also Captain Kidd is supposed to have deposited a sample of treasure. I think there are no more in our part of the world. ”

“ The Isle of Pines, so far from being an inconsiderable spot, as I had believed, is not less than 14 or 15 miles over in a south-east and north-west direction; it is high and remarkable in the middle, being quite a pointed hill, sloping towards the extremities, which are very low; the low land had many tall pine-trees upon it; these trees, in length, seemed exceedingly to surpass those of Norfolk Island, but their branches did not appear to extend so far from the body of the tree. ”

“ The next morning we landed on the Island of which Pine Head is the south-easternmost extremity and from its summit obtained an extensive set of bearings.
The island possesses the same rocky character with the rest of this group; but the soil, although shallow, nourished some luxuriant grass which reached up to our middle and concealed the rocks that are plentifully strewed over the ground. The trees are low and stunted, but the steep slope of the head is covered with pines and forms one of the most remarkable features of Whitsunday Passage. ”

“ Everybody who has travelled on the Long Island Railroad knows the station, but few, perhaps, know Pine Inlet. Duck shooters, of course, are familiar with it; but as there are no hotels there, and nothing to see except salt meadow, salt creek, and a strip of dune and sand, the summer-squatting public may probably be unaware of its existence. The local name for the place is Pine Inlet; the maps give its name as Sand Point, I believe, but anybody at West Oyster Bay can direct you to it. Captain McPeek, who keeps the West Oyster Bay House, drives duck shooters there in winter. ”

“ Apart from the title-page, the entire tract is occupied by the story of George Pine, from whom the island took its name. In 1667, or ninety-eight years after Pine was wrecked, the Dutch captain estimated that the population of the island amounted to ten or twelve thousand persons. Methuselah, with his years to plead for him, might boast of such breeding, but in ordinary man it is too near the verminous, the rat, the guinea-pig, and the rabbit, to be pleasant. ”

“ The girls have great fun and solve a mystery while on an outing along the New England coast.
THE OUTDOOR GIRLS ON PINE ISLAND
Or A Cave and What it Contained.
A bright, healthful story, full of good times at a bungalow camp on Pine Island.
Grosset & Dunlap, Publishers, New York THE GIRLS OF CENTRAL HIGH SERIES By GERTRUDE W. MORRISON
12mo. BOUND IN CLOTH. ILLUSTRATED. UNIFORM STYLE OF BINDING.
Here is a series full of the spirit of high school life of to-day. The girls are real flesh-and-blood characters, and we follow them with interest in school and out. ”

“ PINE HEAD, in latitude 20 degrees 23 minutes, and longitude 148 degrees 51 minutes 40 seconds, is the south-east extremity of a small island that is separated from the main by a passage of about a mile wide, but we did not ascertain whether it is navigable. The head is a high, bluff point, clothed with pine-trees: near it the tide runs in strong eddies, and for that reason it ought not to be approached nearer than half a mile; it appeared to be bold to. There is a sandy bay on its south west side affording a good landing-place ”

“ In a good year, namely a rainy year, the island grows a very good wheat crop, almost larger than that of any other island, but the absence of fresh-water springs, or the apathy of the natives in not making use of [152] what there are, has prevented any agricultural development. The island has no pine forest and trees are scarce: great parts of it are barren, sandy and rocky plains, and the little vegetation there is, is said to resemble that which is found in certain parts of the northern deserts of Africa. Its highest point is only about 2700 ft. ”

“ For the Island lies so far Westerly from the Phillipine Islands, or any other Land, that the Westerly Winds do seldom blow so far; and when they do, they do not last long: but the Easterly Winds do constantly blow here, which are dry and healthy; and this Island is found to be very healthful, as we were informed while we lay by it. The Natives are very ingenious beyond any People, in making Boats, or Proes, as they are called in the East Indies, and therein they take great delight. ”

“ The natives are as domesticated as the Philippine Islanders, and have much better features. Spanish and a little English are spoken by many of them, as these Islands in former years were the resort of English-speaking whalemen. ”

“ When the name given by Columbus was dropped and by whom the island was named "de Pinos" cannot be determined.
Our colleague, Mr. Francis R. Hart, has called my attention to a second Isle of Pines in American waters, being near Golden Island, which was situated in the harbor or bay on which the Scot Darien expedition made its settlement of New Edinburgh. The bay is still known as Caledonia Bay, and the harbor as Porto Escoces, but the Isla de Pinas as well as a river of the same name do not appear on maps of the region. ”

“ I had walked over that afternoon from Captain McPeek's. There was a reason for my going to Pine Inlet—it embarrasses me to explain it, but the truth is I meditated writing an ode to the ocean. It was out of the question to write it in West Oyster Bay, with the whistle of locomotives in my ears. I knew that Pine Inlet was one of the loneliest places on the Atlantic coast; it is out of sight of everything except leagues of gray ocean. Rarely one might make out fishing-smacks drifting across the horizon. ”

“ The Thousand Islands is no misnomer, for they seem to be beyond number, scattered like a myriad of emeralds, with deep water between, and yet so close together that they may almost reach hands across the breach. Every islet is a dome of rock, ground into symmetrical shape by glacial action long ago, then covered by a sediment from the river sufficient to support a profuse vegetation. The Canada pine is conspicuous, lifting its scraggy head to a great height, and pointing its stout branches in every direction, a stately figure among the brushwood that surrounds it. ”

“ To the east, along a rocky coast beaten by a foaming sea, there stretched a deserted and fragrant heath. It was the Beach of Shadows, and the inhabitants of the island never ventured on it for fear of the serpents that lodged in the hollows of the rocks and lest they might encounter the souls of the dead who resembled livid flames. To the south, orchards and woods bounded the languid Bay of Divers. On this fortunate shore old Mael built a wooden church and a monastery. To the west, two streams, the Clange and the Surelle, watered the fertile valleys of Dalles and Dombes. ”

“ The mighty battlements round the lake, with their piebald ridges, and black spots, look like the grim walls of some old Afghan hill fort, riddled with bullets, and torn and rent by fierce onslaughts of the foe.
Close to Pigeon Island there is a very pretty pass between the island end and the main land. The cabbage-trees, green sward, and verdant bush (for there are no rabbits on this island, and grass and sheep are consequently abundant) are charming by contrast with the bare desolation of the snowy ridges. The passage close to the three islands is the prettiest peep on the whole lake. ”

“ They are fourteen or fifteen in number, inhabited by savages, with black hair, dressed and trimmed in the same manner as those we saw before at the Bay of Murderers in New Zealand. On the 29th we passed the Green Islands, and on the 30th that of St. John, which were likewise discovered by Schovten and Le Maire. This island they found to be of a considerable extent, and judged it to lie at the distance of one thousand eight hundred and forty leagues from the coast of Peru. It appeared to them well inhabited and well cultivated, abounding with flesh, fowl, fish, fruit, and other refreshments. ”

“ This island is perpetually buffeted by the winds. In it some poor men fished among the clefts of the rocks and labouriously cultivated vegetables in gardens full of sand and pebbles that were sheltered from the wind by walls of barren stone and hedges of tamarisk. A beautiful fig-tree raised itself in a hollow of the island and thrust forth its branches far and wide. The inhabitants of the island used to worship it.
And the holy Maël said to them: “You worship this tree because it is beautiful. Therefore you are capable of feeling beauty. ”

“ The sides of the mountains are thickset with plantations, and the mould in the new-cleared land seemed to be of a brown-reddish colour. This island is of no regular figure, but is full of points shooting forth into the sea, between which are many sandy bays, full of cocoa-nut trees. The middle of the isle lies in 3 degrees 10 minutes south latitude. It is very populous. The natives are very black, strong, and well-limbed people, having great round heads, their hair naturally curled and short, which they shave into several forms, and dye it also of divers colours—viz., red, white, and yellow. ”

“ The scenery surrounding the little bay, with its rocky shore, is always beautiful. Vine-covered trees, with foliage of intensest green—more especially the pandanus palm tree—flourish in rich growth quite near the water’s edge, the salt spray frequently moistening their branches, while the soft sea air helps to diffuse the delicious fragrance of the sweetest flower that the island boasts of, the morinda citrifolia, named by the islanders simply “high white,” in distinction to the pure white blossoms of the “four o’clock,” which blooms on a low bush. ”

“ Over a mile of shining flat beach lay between the sea and Pierre Island rising into the bright air like an immense tower or castle. On the side nearest the main shore a steep slope gave access to the island by means of a winding road through the woods to the summit. Here, amid trees and cleared strips of garden and field, rose a stone house, dark against the blue sky.
On the outer or sea side jagged and precipitous cliffs, here and there indented by inlets where the high tide made small bays, composed the sea front of the island, impassable to man or animal. ”