The Wonder Island Boys: Adventures on Strange Islands Part 9

"Yes; did you notice how the animals fled at our approach?"

They had noticed it, but neglected to draw any inference from it.

"That is one of the surest signs. Do you now remember how differently the animals acted in the region around Cataract from those in the southwest portion of Wonder Island?"

"I now remember that is so. Don't you remember, George, when we came across the first herd of yaks, that they hardly noticed us? I am sure that the animals out at West River didn't wait to interview us."

"Well, I remember the big bear was very anxious to make our acquaintance," said George, and Harry smiled, as he remembered how the big fellow took his revenge by tearing up their baggage.

John directed the men to the right, and in the direction of an elevation which seemed to be clear of timber. From that point they searched the intervening wooded area, and caught sight of a still higher tableland miles beyond.

"Your gla.s.ses would be serviceable here," said John. George handed them to John, and he gazed through them long and earnestly. "I am unable to find any traces of human beings, and I cannot account for the light which we saw during the night, and which must have been nearly ahead of us."

He walked forward, the men following. They marched for more than a mile, every object being examined. Fallen trees were particularly investigated, and clumps of trees were searched, even the bark of trees being minutely gone over by John.

The natives, generally so keen to discover evidences of their kind, walked along, and shook their heads, to indicate the absence of all signs. The land in the interior was elevated, but it was not rough or broken, the only place where an upheaval had taken place appearing to be the west coast.

"This seems to look bad for our purposes," said John, as he turned to the boys.

"What do you mean?" asked Harry.

"I don't think there are any caves in this section," he answered. "But we might as well investigate farther to the right, and see what the land looks like."

"Aren't those coffee trees?" said George, in great eagerness, as he bounded forwardly.

There, not a hundred feet away, were the beautiful trees with white cl.u.s.ters all over them. Thousands of these trees were in sight.

"I believe we have struck a coffee plantation," exclaimed Harry.

John did not answer, but went up to one of the trees and carefully examined it. "No, these trees have grown wild, and no one has ever gathered the berries."

"But what an opportunity there would be here for gathering coffee! Too bad Blakely isn't here," said George.

"We never saw anything like it on Wonder Island," suggested Harry. "Now, why is it that cocoa will grow in wonderful profusion on one island, and none on the next, and the other island will have bananas and the other not?"

"The explanation of that has been the means of bringing out a wonderful study, that is explained by the nature of the soil itself. In every country certain sections will spontaneously produce product alike, in almost every essential quality. Thus, flax, for instance, is found, identical in its character, in Kamscatska, and in Minnesota; in the Siberian wilds and in Central America; on the heights of the Himalayas, and in the lowest plains of South America."

"But how do you explain the similarity? They must have come from seed, and how did the seeds get from place to place, when there were no ships to carry them?"

"There can be only one explanation. The soil itself, if identical in its character, will, eventually, produce the same vegetables and vegetation.

Thus, it has been found that the localities where this wild flax was found, had soil which was the same in its nature, and calculated to produce the same in kind."

For four hours the little band marched to the south, and came back along a track nearer the sea, without discovering the slightest indication of human habitations, except the frightened looks and actions of the animals in their path.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "_He turned it over and examined every portion_"

[See p. 60]]

CHAPTER VI

DISCOVERY OF THE ISLAND AND EXPLORATIONS

Weary, they dragged themselves over the cliffs and down to the waiting natives. Muro was surprised to learn that they had found no signs of people, so they rowed back to the ship, and after a hearty meal, retired for the night.

In the morning when they asked John for his opinion, he said, "The only course is to sail south, and circ.u.mnavigate the island. In doing so we shall effect a landing every ten miles or so, and then go into the interior. This will thus enable us to learn all about the land. At the same time we must survey the island, so as to learn its extent, as well as its general shape and outline."

"But how can we survey it without the instruments?"

"That is readily done, by observing the headlands, or some special coast line marks, and then taking the angles from those points."

"Well, that will be interesting, at least. How shall we start?"

"Do you see that point to the south which may be five or ten miles away?"

"Yes."

"Now, examine the compa.s.s, and turn it so that the cardinal points are directly north and south. Now sight across the face of the compa.s.s so that you get the exact line between this point and yonder object. What do you make it to be?"

"Why I make it out to be S. E."

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Fig. 5. Measuring by Triangulation._]

"That is correct. The line 1 is south by east."

"But how can we find out how long line 1 is?" asked Harry.

"Why by triangulation," said George, quickly.

"I know that, but how can we do it on sea?"

"It can be done on sea, as well as on land, but we had better go and make the first measurement by triangulation correctly, and do this in our subsequent measurements, unless it should be necessary to make the measurements at sea. The plan followed on shipboard will be found similar to the plan followed on land."

The boat was manned and the boys with a crew of the men and John made for the sh.o.r.e, and together they went inland to a point marked B (Fig.

5), and sighted across to the same object C that was noted of the ship.

This, then, gave three lines, 1, 2 and 3, forming a triangle.

"If these angles are placed on a paper the distance from A to C can be determined on the principles of proportion," remarked John.

"How is that done?"

"We will a.s.sume that the lines 1, 2, are at right angles to each other.

This is not necessary, but it happens to be so in this case. Let us first measure the distance along the line 2, which may be any number of inches, or feet. Suppose we call the line one inch long. Then draw the line 1, so that it will be sufficiently long to be sure and meet the line 3."

"Yes; I now see how it is done," remarked George, with enthusiasm. "If the line 3 is drawn at the angle we got, when we looked at C, from B, the line will cross line 1 at C."

"That is correct. Now, if it is one inch from A to B, we may use that inch as a measurement to get the distance along the line."