We hove-to off the little bay, the waters of which looked placid enough for a pleasure-party, lowered two boats well furnished with fishing gear and such other equipment as we thought would be needed, and pulled away for the landing-place.  As we drew near the beach, we found that, in spite of the hindrance to the ocean swell afforded by the reefs, it broke upon the beach in rollers of immense size.  In order to avoid any mishap, then, we turned the boats’ heads to seaward, and gently backed towards the beach, until a larger breaker than usual came thundering in.  As it rushed towards us, we pulled lustily to meet it, the lovely craft rising to its foaming crest like sea-birds.  Then, as soon as we were on its outer slope, we reversed the stroke again, coming in on its mighty shoulders at racing speed.  The instant our keels touched the beach we all leapt out, and exerting every ounce of strength we possessed, ran the boats up high and dry before the next roller had time to do more than hiss harmlessly around our feet.  It was a task of uncommon difficulty, for the shore was wholly composed of loose lava and pumice-stone grit, into which we sank ankle-deep at every step, besides being exceedingly steep.

We managed, however, to escape without any mishap, for the drenching was a boon to our burnt-up skins.  Off we started along the level land, which, as far as I could judge, extended inland for perhaps a mile and a half by about two miles wide.  From this flat shelf the cliffs rose perpendicularly, as they did from the sea.  Up their sides were innumerable goat-tracks, upon some of which we could descry a few of those agile creatures climbing almost like flies.  The plateau was thickly wooded, many of the trees having been fruit-bearing once, but now, much to our disappointment, barren from neglect.

A ruined house, surrounded by other vestiges of what had once been a homestead, stood in the middle of this piece of land.  Feeling curious to know what the history of this isolated settlement might be, I asked the mate if he knew anything of it.  He told me that an American named Halstead, with his family, lived here for years, visited only by an occasional whaler, to whom they sold such produce as they might have and be able to spare at the time.  What their previous history had been, or why they thus chose to cut themselves off from the world, he did not know; but they seemed contented enough with their tiny kingdom, nor had any wish to leave it.  But it came to pass that one night they felt the sure and firm-set earth trembling convulsively beneath their feet.  Rushing out of their house, they saw the heavens bespread with an awful pall of smoke, the under-side of which was glowing with the reflected fires of some vast furnace.  Their terror was increased by a smart shower of falling ashes and the reverberations of subterranean thunders.  At first they thought of flight in their boat, not reckoning the wide stretch of sea which rolled between them and the nearest land, but the height and frequency of the breakers then prevailing made that impossible.