I involuntarily closed my mouth, and the poor creatures being enveloped in inner darkness, must in their consternation have stumbled over my palate, and been precipitated into the gulf beneath.

At any rate, though I afterwards charitably held my mouth open for at least five minutes, with a view of affording egress to the stragglers, none of them ever availed themselves of the opportunity.
There are no wild animals of any kind on the island unless it be decided that the natives themselves are such.

The mountains and the interior present to the eye nothing but silent solitudes, unbroken by the roar of beasts of prey, and enlivened by few tokens even of minute animated existence.

There are no venomous reptiles, and no snakes of any description to be found in any of the valleys.
In a company of Marquesan natives the weather affords no topic of conversation.

It can hardly be said to have any vicissitudes.