The whole island appears to be
deeply indented by bays and inlets, the surface intersected by
numerous small lakes and water-courses. These becoming swollen by
the heavy rains, which alternate with the frost and snow,
accompanied by violent gusts of wind, rush down the sides of the
mountains and along the ravines in countless impetuous torrents,
forming in many places beautiful foaming cascades, wearing away the
rocks, and strewing the valleys below with vast fragments."
CHARLES. "That is _grand_, but decidedly not _comfortable_."
GRANDY. "Sailors need great powers of endurance to undergo such
hardships as they must continually encounter on these voyages of
discovery. How grateful we ought to feel towards the brave men who
hazard life, property, everything to extend our knowledge! for how
many happy hours are we indebted to their researches! how often have
we perused with delight, the voyages, the discoveries, the exciting
descriptions of enterprising sailors! and all, perhaps, without
reflecting that the very adventures which have so much amused us,
may have been the ruin of all their hopes, and the destroyer of all
their happiness in this world. While you are sipping your wine,
preparatory to our last voyage, I will tell you a true
#Story of a Sailor as related by himself.#
"Four years ago I left the port of Boston, the master of a fine ship
bound for China. I was worth ten thousand dollars, and was the
husband of a young and handsome wife, whom I married but six months
before.
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