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late, at one time, several thousands of dollars. These he deposited in the
ground, when, some three or four years since, a schooner arrived under the
American flag, bringing a few worthless scoundrels, who ingratiated themselves,
under the pretence of great friendship, with the old man, who was
thus induced to make them the confidants of his success, and of its proof
which he had stored away. These villains, after living for several months
on terms of great intimacy and confidence with Savory, left the island, having
first robbed their benefactor of all his money, despoiled his household of
a couple of young women, whom they took away with them, carried off his
journal, and wantonly injured his property. Fortunately for justice, the
guilty party were afterwards arrested at Honolulu, but the captive women
expressed themselves quite contented with their lot, and declared that they
had no desire to return. As for the money, it was not learned whether that t
was ever recovered or not.
The islands of Bonin are high, bold, and rocky, and are evidently of
volcanic formation. They are green with verdure and a full growth of tropical
vegetation, which crowds up the acclivities of the hills, from the very
borders of the shore, which is, here and there, edged with coral reefs. The
headlands and detached rocks have been thrown by former convulsions of
nature into various grotesque forms, which assume to the eye the shape of
castle and tower, and strange animals, of monstrous size and hideous form.
Numerous canal-like passages were observed opening in the sides of the
rocky cliffs, which had ahnost the appearance of being hewn out with the
chisel, but which were evidently formed in the course of volcanic changes,
when the rock flowed with liquid lava, and found issue in these channels,
which the torrents that came down the sides of the mountains in the rainy
season toward the sea have worn smooth by constant attrition. Some of
these dykes, or canal-like passages, less affected by time and the washing of
the water, still retain their irregular formation, which has so much the appearance
of steps that the observer, as he looks upon them, might fancy
they had been cut by the hand of man in the solid rock, for the purpose of
climbing the mountain. On the Southern Head, as it is called, within the
harbor of Port Lloyd, there is a very curious natural cave or tunnel, which
passes through the basaltic rock, from the Southern Head to the beach on
the other side. The entrance has a width of about fifteen feet, and a height
of thirty, hut the roof within soon rises to forty or fifty feet, where it has
so much the appearance of artificial structure, that it may be likened to a
builder’s arch, in which even the keystone is observable. There is sufficient
water for a boat to pass from one end to the other. There are several other
caves or tunnels, one of which is at least fifty yards in length, and passes
through a headland hounding the harbor. This is constantly traversed by
the canoes of the inhabitants.
The geological formation of the island is trappean, with its various con