about noon
LONG before sunrise the next morning my sandals were laced on , and the doctor had vaulted into Zeke 's boots . Expecting to see us again before we went to Taloo , the planters wished us a pleasant journey ; and , on parting , very generously presented us with a pound or two of what sailors call `` plug '' tobacco ; telling us to cut it up into small change ; the Virginian weed being the principal circulating medium on the island . Tamai , we were told , was not more than three or four leagues distant ; so making allowances for a wild road , a few hours to rest at noon , and our determination to take the journey leisurely , we counted upon reaching the shores of the lake some time in the flush of the evening . For several hours we went on slowly through wood and ravine , and over hill and precipice , seeing nothing but occasional herds of wild cattle , and often resting ; until we found ourselves , about noon , in the very heart of the island . It was a green , cool hollow among the mountains , into which we at last descended with a bound . The place was gushing with a hundred springs , and shaded over with great solemn trees , on whose mossy boles the moisture stood in beads . Strange to say , no traces of the bullocks ever having been here were revealed .