From the crest of the hill near the house he saw a considerable expanse, but the western half of the island was cut off from view by a higher range of hills.

It was all in dark green foliage, although he caught the sheen of a little lake about two miles away.

As far as he could see a line of reefs stretched around the coast, and the white surf was breaking on them freely.
From the hill he went back to the point at which he and the captain had been swept ashore, and, as he searched along the beach he found the bodies of all those who had been in the boat with them.

He had been quite sure that none of them could possibly have escaped, but it gave him a shock nevertheless to secure the absolute proof that they were dead.

He resolved if he could find a way to bury them in the sand beyond the reach of the waves, but, for the present, he could do nothing, and he continued along the shore several miles, finding its character everywhere the same, a gentle slope, a stretch of water, and beyond that the line of reefs on which the white surf was continually breaking, reefs with terrible teeth as he well knew.
But it was all very peaceful now.