Fearing that some reefs or rocky formations might exist in their course, he reduced sail, and kept away from the shore about a mile.

At this distance he was better able to see inland, and mark down the accident of its formation.
The southern coast was uniform, and Helen said it resembled the cliffs of the Kentish or Sussex coast of England, only the English white was here replaced by the pale volcanic gray.

By one o'clock they came abreast the very spot where they had first made land; and, as they judged, due south of their residence.

Had they landed here, a walk of three miles across the center of the island would have brought them home.
For about a similar distance the coast exhibited monotonous cliffs unbroken even by a rill.

It was plain that the water-shed of the island was all northward.