Таємничий острів

           Toattackthismassofgranite,evenbyamine,wasHerculeanwork,anditwasreallyvexingthatnaturecouldnothelpthemattheirneed.Buttheengineerdidnotreplytothesailorexceptbyproposingtoexaminethecliffmoreattentively,fromthemouthoftherivertotheanglewhichterminateditonthenorth.

           Theywentout,therefore,andtheexplorationwasmadewithextremecare,overanextentofnearlytwomiles.Butinnoplaceinthebare,straightcliff,couldanycavitybefound.Thenestsoftherockpigeonswhichflutteredatitssummitwereonly,inreality,holesboredattheverytop,andontheirregularedgeofthegranite.

           Itwasaprovokingcircumstance,andastoattackingthiscliff,eitherwithpickaxeorwithpowder,soastoeffectasufficientexcavation,itwasnottobethoughtof.Itsohappenedthat,onallthispartoftheshore,Pencrofthaddiscoveredtheonlyhabitableshelter,thatistosay,theChimneys,whichnowhadtobeabandoned.

           Theexplorationended,thecolonistsfoundthemselvesatthenorthangleofthecliff,whereitterminatedinlongslopeswhichdiedawayontheshore.Fromthisplace,toitsextremelimitinthewest,itonlyformedasortofdeclivity,athickmassofstones,earth,andsand,boundtogetherbyplants,bushes,andgrassinclinedatanangleofonlyforty-fivedegrees.Clumpsoftreesgrewontheseslopes,whichwerealsocarpetedwiththickgrass.Butthevegetationdidnotextendfar,andalong,sandyplain,whichbeganatthefootoftheseslopes,reachedtothebeach.