For twenty minutes we rowed along the reef, and then Hunt discovered the pass, which was through a narrow cut in the rocks.

Leaving two men in the boat, we landed, and having gone through the winding gorge which gave access to the crest of the coast, our little force, headed by Hunt, pushed on towards the centre of the island.

Captain Len Guy and myself exchanged observations, as we walked, on the subject of this country, which, as Arthur Pym declared, differed essentially from every other land hitherto visited by human beings.

We soon found that Pym's description was trustworthy.

The general colour of the plains was black, as though the clay were made of lava-dust; nowhere was anything white to be seen.