"Why, Jerry, I am not quite so certain that those are vessels," I remarked; "just observe them attentively.  Hillo! they have disappeared! Stay, we shall soon rise to the top of the swell again.  There they are!  They are as steady as church steeples.  Those are not the masts of vessels.  They are cocoa-nut and palm-trees, depend on that.  They are growing on one of those coral islands which abound in these latitudes. Watch again.  On we go."  (Here I caught sight of the glittering, white, sandy beach.) "How the surf breaks on the reef outside it!  How bright and clear it appears, rising out of the deep ocean!  How green the ground looks under those tall trees, and how intensely blue the lagoon in the centre!  It is a lovely-looking spot--quite a fairy land.  I hope that we shall be put on shore there, though I would rather have a few hills and valleys to diversify the scene, if we are to remain there long."