The first edition of this book is dated 1858. The edition used is dated 1870. The publisher was W. & R. Chambers. The number of pages is 323.

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Contents

Chapter I.
Roving has always been, and still is, my ruling passion, the joy of my heart, the very sunshine of my existence.

Chapter II.
It was a bright, beautiful, warm day when our ship spread her canvas to the breeze and sailed for the regions of the south.

Chapter III.
There is a strange and peculiar sensation experienced in recovering from a state of insensibility which is almost indescribable: a sort of dreamy, confused consciousness; a half-waking, half-sleeping condition, accompanied with a feeling of weariness, which, however, is by no means disagreeable.

Chapter IV.
We now seated ourselves upon a rock, and began to examine into our personal property.

Chapter V.
What a joyful thing it is to awaken on a fresh, glorious morning, and find the rising sun staring into your face with dazzling brilliancy! to hear the birds twittering in the bushes, and to hear the murmuring of a rill, or the soft, hissing ripples as they fall upon the seashore! At any time, and in any place, such sights and sounds are most charming; but more especially are they so when one awakens to them, for the first time, in a novel and romantic situation, with the soft, sweet air of a tropical climate mingling with the fresh smell of the sea, and stirring the strange leaves that flutter overhead and around one, or ruffling the plumage of the stranger birds that fly inquiringly around as if to demand what business we have to intrude uninvited on their domains.

Chapter VI.
Our first care, after breakfast, was to place the few articles we possessed in the crevice of a rock at the farther end of a small cave which we discovered near our encampment.

Chapter VII.
For several days after the excursion related in the last chapter we did not wander far from our encampment, but gave ourselves up to forming plans for the future and making our present abode comfortable.

Chapter VIII.
Our encounter with the shark was the first great danger that had befallen us since landing on this island; and we felt very seriously affected by it, especially when we considered that we had so often unwittingly incurred the same danger before while bathing.

Chapter IX.
Scarcely had the sun shot its first ray across the bosom of the broad Pacific when Jack sprang to his feet, and hallooing in Peterkin’s ear to awaken him, ran down the beach to take his customary dip in the sea.

Chapter X.
Our examination of the little valley proved to be altogether most satisfactory.

Chapter XI.
When we awoke on the following morning we found that the sun was already a good way above the horizon, so I came to the conclusion that a heavy supper is not conducive to early rising.

Chapter XII.
Rest is sweet, as well for the body as for the mind. During my long experience, amid the vicissitudes of a chequered life, I have found that periods of profound rest at certain intervals, in addition to the ordinary hours of repose, are necessary to the well-being of man.

Chapter XIII.
“Come, Jack,” cried Peterkin one morning about three weeks after our return from our long excursion, “let’s be jolly to-day, and do something vigorous.

Chapter XIV.
It was quite a relief to us to breathe the pure air and to enjoy the glad sunshine after our long ramble in the Diamond Cave, as we named it; for although we did not stay more than half-an-hour away, it seemed to us much longer.

Chapter XV.
For many days after this, Jack applied himself with unremitting assiduity to the construction of our boat, which at length began to look something like one.

Chapter XVI.
It was a bright, clear, beautiful morning when we first launched our little boat and rowed out upon the placid waters of the lagoon.

Chapter XVII.
One day, not long after our little boat was finished, we were sitting on the rocks at Spouting Cliff, and talking of an excursion which we intended to make to Penguin Island the next day.

Chapter XVIII.
It was evening before we left the island of the penguins. As we had made up our minds to encamp for the night on a small island whereon grew a few cocoa-nut trees, which was about two miles off, we lay-to our oars with some energy.

Chapter XIX.
For many months after this we continued to live on our island in uninterrupted harmony and happiness.

Chapter XX.
After the battle was over, the savages crowded round us and gazed at us in surprise, while they continued to pour upon us a flood of questions, which, being wholly unintelligible, of course we could not answer.

Chapter XXI.
Life is a strange compound. Peterkin used to say of it that it beat a druggist’s shop all to sticks; for whereas the first is a compound of good and bad, the other is a horrible compound of all that is utterly detestable.

Chapter XXII.
My heart seemed to leap into my throat at the words; and turning round, I beheld a man of immense stature and fierce aspect regarding me with a smile of contempt.

Chapter XXIII.
Three weeks after the conversation narrated in the last chapter I was standing on the quarter-deck of the schooner, watching the gambols of a shoal of porpoises that swam round us.

Chapter XXIV.
It was many days after the events just narrated ere I recovered a little of my wonted spirits.

Chapter XXV.
Next day the wood-cutting party went ashore again, and I accompanied them as before.

Chapter XXVI.
Next morning I awoke with a feverish brow and a feeling of deep depression at my heart; and the more I thought on my unhappy fate, the more wretched and miserable did I feel.

Chapter XXVII.
There is a power of endurance in human beings, both in their bodies and in their minds, which, I have often thought, seems to be wonderfully adapted and exactly proportioned to the circumstances in which individuals may happen to be placed—a power which, in most cases, is sufficient to carry a man through and over every obstacle that may happen to be thrown in his path through life, no matter how high or how steep the mountain may be, but which often forsakes him the moment the summit is gained, the point of difficulty passed, and leaves him prostrated, with energies gone, nerves unstrung, and a feeling of incapacity pervading the entire frame that renders the most trifling effort almost impossible.

Chapter XXVIII.
It was with feelings of awe, not unmingled with fear, that I now seated myself on the cabin skylight and gazed upon the rigid features of my late comrade, while my mind wandered over his past history and contemplated with anxiety my present position.

Chapter XXIX.
I almost fell upon the deck with the tumult of mingled emotions that filled my heart as I gazed ardently towards my beautiful island.

Chapter XXX.
Our voyage during the next two weeks was most interesting and prosperous.

Chapter XXXI.
We had ascertained from the teacher the direction to the spot on which the battle was to be fought, and after a walk of two hours, reached it.

Chapter XXXII.
When we returned to the shore and related to our friend what had passed, he was greatly distressed, and groaned in spirit; but we had not sat long in conversation when we were interrupted by the arrival of Tararo on the beach, accompanied by a number of followers bearing baskets of vegetables and fruits on their heads.

Chapter XXXIII.
As the time for our meditated flight drew near, we became naturally very fearful lest our purpose should be discovered, and we spent the whole of the following day in a state of nervous anxiety.

Chapter XXXIV.
For a long, long month we remained in our dark and dreary prison, during which dismal time we did not see the face of a human being except that of the silent savage who brought us our daily food.

Chapter XXXV.
Conclusion.

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