All was now ruin and devastation on the site of forsaken gardens, into the shaded recesses of which a basilisk had once entered.

Some stacks of chimneys were all that was left to tell the tale.

It seemed remarkable that twelve short years should have worked so complete a desolation.

It would appear as if half a century had intervened, so thorough had been the physical revolution of the island.
One night we had lain with our flotilla on the Virginia coast.

It was perceived, at early daylight, that the inner ark, which was Mr.
Thomas's, and which was loaded with valuable machinery, was partly sunk, being pressed against the bank by the other arks, and the water was found to be flowing in above the caulked seams.