Page 132 - AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS

Around the World in 80 Days

would be mathematically—he used the very word—
arranged. Aouda fastened her great eyes, ‘clear as the
sacred lakes of the Himalaya,’ upon him; but the
intractable Fogg, as reserved as ever, did not seem at all

inclined to throw himself into this lake.
The first few days of the voyage passed prosperously,
amid favourable weather and propitious winds, and they
soon came in sight of the great Andaman, the principal of
the islands in the Bay of Bengal, with its picturesque
Saddle Peak, two thousand four hundred feet high,
looming above the waters. The steamer passed along near
the shores, but the savage Papuans, who are in the lowest
scale of humanity, but are not, as has been asserted,
cannibals, did not make their appearance.
The panorama of the islands, as they steamed by them,
was superb. Vast forests of palms, arecs, bamboo,
teakwood, of the gigantic mimosa, and tree-like ferns
covered the foreground, while behind, the graceful
outlines of the mountains were traced against the sky; and
along the coasts swarmed by thousands the precious
swallows whose nests furnish a luxurious dish to the tables
of the Celestial Empire. The varied landscape afforded by
the Andaman Islands was soon passed, however, and the

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