190 NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY 



point called Diamond hill ; and soon after, the mountain ranges, 

 and the quiet valleys echoed the report of our pilot gun. 



As I leaned over the rail this eveninsj, gazing at the shoi'e on 

 our quarter, with its lofty peaks, and lovely sleeping vales, clearly 

 defined by the light of the full orbed moon, T thought I never had 

 witnessed any thing so perfectly enchanting. The warm breeze 

 which came in gentle puffs from the land, seemed to bear fra- 

 grance on its wings, and to discourse of the rich and sunny 

 climes from which it came. The whole scene was to me like 

 fairy land. I thought of Captain Cook, and fancied his having 

 been here, and gazing with delighted eyes upon the very pros- 

 pect before me, little dreaming, that after all he had endured, he 

 should here be sacrificed by the very people to whom he hoped 

 to prove a benefactor and friend. The noise and bustle on deck, 

 sailors running to and fro making the ship " snug" for harbor, 

 and all the preparations for an arrival, effectually banished my 

 meditations, and I descended to my state room, to sleep away the 

 tedious hours, 'till the morrow should reveal all the new and 

 strange features of the land to which we had come. 



