Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1890 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER VIII. THE ISLAND OF GUADALCANAR. fl are up with the dawn, searching the distance for the massive front of Guadalcanal The whole eastern sky is radiant with yellow light. Myriads of wavelets on the sea are tipped with gold. Occasionally a swift bird flits through the space before us. Otherwise there is a deep quiet on the great sea. The breeze is soft and rather humid, but very invigorating. One feels as if he could live a hundred years. Forgotten is the discomfort of our pent-up berth and of our narrow home on the sea. "There!" suddenly exclaims the keen-eyed captain. We know what he means, and turn our glass toward the west. Look now! Is there a finer coast scene in all the Pacific than those bold head- lands of Guadalcanar? Huge mountain masses rise directly out of the sea to a height of five and eight thousand feet. Mount Tammas, named by Lieutenant Shortland, is the highest point. Most of the lofty peaks are hidden by clouds ready to pour down the rain. Now and then a sharp cone is seen above the mist. "The heaviest rainfall in the Solomon group takes place on the eastern and southern steeps of Guadalcanar." The march of the vapor-laden trade wind meets with little obstruction as it drives across the northern end of St. Christoval, and, arriving from over a vast extent of sea, beats square against these cyclopean walls, and clay after day pours upon them a deluge of water. Along all that massive face of sea wall, it is said, there is not a rift in the rock, not a narrow ravine, nor an open valley which serves as a door of escape for the rushing wet air. Terrific, therefore, is the downpour on Guadalcanar's precipitous sides. The amount is three or four times that deposited on the less-elevated shores. It is Gallego who wrote: ...
