284 
PAMEH. 
bay, as it is directly opposite to, and not far distant 
from, a precipitous spur of tlie Oameroons mountain 
of the same formation. The narrow channel between 
them is shallow, and the numerous fragments at the con- 
tiguous end of tlie island prove that the process which 
caused the dismemberment, is still going on ; while nine 
fantastic little islets or “ needles,” lying in the same 
line of direction, some almost like pinnacles, cut in 
at the water line, and “nodding to their fall,” and three 
of them perforated by the incessant action of the sea, 
forming irregular arches, througii which the surf chafes 
and expends its not idle fury, show that the Pirate Island 
was originally much larger, perhaps connected with 
the island Dameh, which is in the same line ; and the 
ridge of shallow water between, justifies the idea, that 
the restless Atlantic has effected a physical as well as 
a moral separation between the inhabitants, which were 
probably of the same family. 
Mountains interpos’d, 
Make enemies of nations ; winch, had else 
Like kindred drops, been mingled into one.” 
The rock of which Abohbi or Pirate Island is 
composed, offers very little resistance to the action 
of the sea, beating incessantly at its base ; it seems to 
be a compact mass of yolcanic ashes with basaltic 
dykes. The little isthmus before alluded to is very 
nearly cut through, and the singular destiny of these 
poor islanders is easily divined; a generation not 
remote will see their “fatherland” swept from under 
