254. ASTONISH A NATIVE. 



US in imagination a long way inland, whereas we 

 were not three hundred yards from the beach. 

 We now wended our way towards a small emi- 

 nence, through long grass, in most places inter- 

 woven with creepers, compelling us to tear our way 

 through them in the ascent. In doing so, Mr. 

 Bynoe flushed a native ; but before the rest of the 

 party could come up, he had taken to flight. The 

 simultaneous cries of "here's a native!" "where!" 

 *' here!" " there he goes stark naked," rose ; and 

 before all eyes could catch a glimpse, his dark 

 figure insensibly blended with the waving branches 

 of his wild solitude, and without a cry of fear or 

 joy, he was lost to us, perhaps for ever ! We burst 

 through the same brushwood he had recently thrown 

 aside, and entered a labyrinth of forest trees, without 

 finding a clue to the direction he had taken. 



The whole of the country appeared to be granitic; 

 the eminence on which we stood bore that character, 

 and some parts, near the beach, were thrown into 

 massive blocks, at high water, completely surrounded 

 by the flux of tide. The view inland was inter- 

 cepted by hills and trees, the former assuming the 

 same appearance as the one we were on, but higher. 

 Our game-bag was thinly lined with small curlews, 

 oyster-catchers, and sanderlings. 



A sandy spit connects Magnetical Island on the 

 south side with the main, and must be sufficiently 

 shoal at low water to allow the natives to ford over; 



