“Well,” said Pencroft, “this bay would make admirable roads, in which a whole fleet could lie at their ease!”

“What is especially curious,” observed Harding, “is that the gulf has been formed by two rivers of lava, thrown out by the volcano, and accumulated by successive eruptions.  The result is that the gulf is completely sheltered on all sides, and I believe that even in the stormiest weather, the sea here must be as calm as a lake.”

“No doubt,” returned the sailor, “since the wind has only that narrow entrance between the two capes to get in by, and, besides, the north cape protects that of the south in a way which would make the entrance of gusts very difficult.  I declare our ‘Bonadventure’ could stay here from one end of the year to the other, without even dragging at her anchor!”

“It is rather large for her!” observed the reporter.

“Well!  Mr. Spilett,” replied the sailor, “I agree that it is too large for the ‘Bonadventure,’ but if the fleets of the Union were in want of a harbor in the Pacific, I don’t think they would ever find a better place than this!”

“We are in the shark’s mouth,” remarked Nab, alluding to the form of the gulf.

“Right into its mouth, my honest Nab!” replied Herbert, “but you are not afraid that it will shut upon us, are you?”

“No, Mr. Herbert,” answered Neb, “and yet this gulf here doesn’t please me much!  It has a wicked look!”

“Hallo!” cried Pencroft, “here is Neb turning up his nose at my gulf, just as I was thinking of presenting it to America!”

“But, at any rate, is the water deep enough?” asked the engineer, “for a depth sufficient for the keel of the ‘Bonadventure’ would not be enough for those of our iron-clads.”

“That is easily found out,” replied Pencroft.

And the sailor sounded with a long cord, which served him as a lead-line, and to which was fastened a lump of iron.  This cord measured nearly fifty fathoms, and its entire length was unrolled without finding any bottom.

“There,” exclaimed Pencroft, “our iron-clads can come here after all!  They would not run aground!”

“Indeed,” said Gideon Spilett, “this gulf is a regular abyss, but, taking into consideration the volcanic origin of the island, it is not astonishing that the sea should offer similar depressions.”

“One would say too,” observed Herbert, “that these cliffs were perfectly perpendicular; and I believe that at their foot, even with a line five or six times longer, Pencroft would not find bottom.”

“That is all very well,” then said the reporter, “but I must point out to Pencroft that his harbor is wanting in one very important respect!”

“And what is that, Mr. Spilett?”

“An opening, a cutting of some sort, to give access to the interior of the island.  I do not see a spot on which we could land.”  And, in fact, the steep lava cliffs did not afford a single place suitable for landing.  They formed an insuperable barrier, recalling, but with more wildness, the fiords of Norway.  The “Bonadventure,” coasting as close as possible along the cliffs, did not discover even a projection which would allow the passengers to leave the deck.