Page:At the Earth's Core.djvu/174

152 eaten but once. To retrace my steps to the summit of the divide and explore another cañon seemed the only solution of my problem, but a sudden widening and levelness of the cañon just before me seemed to suggest that it was about to open into a level country, and with the lure of discovery strong upon me I decided to proceed but a short distance farther before I turned back.

The next turn of the cañon brought me to its mouth, and before me I saw a narrow plain leading down to an ocean. At my right the side of the cañon continued to the water's edge, the valley lying to my left, and the foot of it running gradually into the sea, where it formed a broad level beach.

Clumps of strange trees dotted the landscape here and there almost to the water, and rank grass and ferns grew between. From the nature of the vegetation I was convinced that the land between the ocean and the foothills was swampy, though directly before me it seemed dry enough all the way to the sandy strip along which the restless waters advanced and retreated.