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- 2026-01-30T20:48:25.200Z
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- 2529
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- the rain with the violence that put all thoughts of slumber to flight.
Although in some measure sheltered, our clothes soon became as wet
as ever; this, after all the trouble we had taken to dry them, was
provoking enough: but there was no help for it; and I recommend all
adventurous youths who abandon vessels in romantic islands during the
rainy season to provide themselves with umbrellas.
After an hour or so the shower passed away. My companion slept through
it all, or at least appeared so to do; and now that it was over I had
not the heart to awaken him. As I lay on my back completely shrouded
with verdure, the leafy branches drooping over me, my limbs buried
in grass, I could not avoid comparing our situation with that of the
interesting babes in the wood. Poor little sufferers!--no wonder their
constitutions broke down under the hardships to which they were exposed.
During the hour or two spent under the shelter of these bushes, I began
to feel symptoms which I at once attributed to the exposure of the
preceding night. Cold shiverings and a burning fever succeeded one
another at intervals, while one of my legs was swelled to such a degree,
and pained me so acutely, that I half suspected I had been bitten by
some venomous reptile, the congenial inhabitant of the chasm from which
we had lately emerged. I may here remark by the way--what I subsequently
gleamed--that all the islands of Polynesia enjoy the reputation, in
common with the Hibernian isle, of being free from the presence of any
vipers; though whether Saint Patrick ever visited them, is a question I
shall not attempt to decide.
As the feverish sensation increased upon me I tossed about, still
unwilling to disturb my slumbering companion, from whose side I removed
two or three yards. I chanced to push aside a branch, and by so doing
suddenly disclosed to my view a scene which even now I can recall with
all the vividness of the first impression. Had a glimpse of the gardens
of Paradise been revealed to me, I could scarcely have been more
ravished with the sight.
From the spot where I lay transfixed with surprise and delight, I looked
straight down into the bosom of a valley, which swept away in long wavy
undulations to the blue waters in the distance. Midway towards the
sea, and peering here and there amidst the foliage, might be seen the
palmetto-thatched houses of its inhabitants glistening in the sun that
had bleached them to a dazzling whiteness. The vale was more than three
leagues in length, and about a mile across at its greatest width.
On either side it appeared hemmed in by steep and green acclivities,
which, uniting near the spot where I lay, formed an abrupt and
semicircular termination of grassy cliffs and precipices hundreds of
feet in height, over which flowed numberless small cascades. But the
crowning beauty of the prospect was its universal verdure; and in this
indeed consists, I believe, the peculiar charm of every Polynesian
landscape. Everywhere below me, from the base of the precipice upon
whose very verge I had been unconsciously reposing, the surface of the
vale presented a mass of foliage, spread with such rich profusion
that it was impossible to determine of what description of trees it
consisted.
But perhaps there was nothing about the scenery I beheld more impressive
than those silent cascades, whose slender threads of water, after
leaping down the steep cliffs, were lost amidst the rich herbage of the
valley.
Over all the landscape there reigned the most hushed repose, which I
almost feared to break, lest, like the enchanted gardens in the fairy
tale, a single syllable might dissolve the spell. For a long time,
forgetful alike of my own situation, and the vicinity of my still
slumbering companion, I remained gazing around me, hardly able to
comprehend by what means I had thus suddenly been made a spectator of
such a scene.
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