The Mysterious Island

Fearing the oncoming rainy season and other potential threats—harsh winter temperatures, hostile native inhabitants, roaming pirates, wild animals—the company decides to find a new home. Pencroff lobbies to build a brick home by the edge of the lake, but Cyrus suggests they do some more exploring first to ensure there wouldn’t be an easier and more secure place to set up their home.

They consider searching the granite cliffs for a cave or way in somehow; Cyrus is convinced there must be a hidden passageway due to the waterfall that makes its way from the lake to the sea. While headed to the northeastern end of the island, Top leaps into the water after a creature that they cannot see. After a short while, the dog leaps out of the water and in again, and the company discovers the dog has caught the scent of a dugong. Top soon escapes while the dugong still seems to be in distress and, moments later, floats to the top of the water. It has died from a very long and clean slash across the throat, which puzzles the men: “What sort of amphibian could have slain the dugong with this one terrible blow? They could not say” (181).

The next day, Cyrus discovers that the lake is draining through to the waterfall through an underground channel. He decides to blast through some of the rock with a chemistry experiment, thereby finding a cavity in the granite and lowering the lake by several feet. The men create iron sulfate and aluminum sulfate, and by rendering down the blubber from the dugong, they produce glycerin. These elements are enough to create nitroglycerine, a powerful explosive.

Setting the explosive in the lakebed, the men set up a device to trigger the explosive and retreat back to the Chimneys. Right on cue, the island is rocked by an explosion, knocking the men to the ground. They congratulate one another on a successful mission. Quickly, they return to the lake and find that there is indeed a great cavity within the granite, which they proceed to explore. With Top in the lead, they descend further into the mountain and suddenly hear the dog barking furiously far in the distance ahead of them.

Reaching the dog, they discover nothing at all but do find an enormous cavern and a deep shaft plunging almost 100 feet straight down into the sea below. Judging on how far they have traveled, Cyrus guesses that the cavern is now likely quite close to the edge of the cliff face and determines that they can devise a plan to cut through the wall, creating windows and a door. They quickly cut through the face of the wall, discovering it is only three feet in diameter. The light pouring through illuminates a magnificent space, and the men rejoice to see such a brilliant sight.

Harbert asks what they shall call their new space, and Cyrus responds by naming it Granite House. Realizing their torches will soon go out, they decide to make the trek back up through the tunnels. Cyrus attempts to see if there is anything suspicious about the ling shaft to the sea one more time, but discovering nothing, he too begins his exit.

Now that the men have discovered Granite House, they decide to make it their permanent home: “The Chimneys would not be abandoned, however, for the engineer intended to use their former home as a workshop for some of his more ambitious projects” (204). They decide to cut a number of windows out of the cliff face and construct a rope ladder to access the space.

The men create separate rooms within the cavern, as well as a large storeroom for their provisions, supplies, and tools. Exploration and hunting continue as usual; Harbert discovers a rabbit warren surrounded by herbs—and even a certain type of tea leaf that can be used for a beverage. With the winter weather approaching, the men rejoice in the knowledge that they will have a newfound home just in time.

They discuss procuring both warmer clothing and indoor lighting for the darker nights ahead. Cyrus proposes another seal hunt to get more animal fat to make candle wax. Over the course of the next few weeks, the men go about all manner of domestic tasks: crafting scissors and other tools to make life easier, building bridges over their streams, stocking their lake with fresh oysters, and furnishing Granite House with beds, cookware, and many other items. To their great luck and astonishment, they even discover how to grow wheat on their island after Harbert finds a stray grain of wheat stuck in the hem of his trousers.

As winter arrives, “The weather was cold but perfectly dry, and so the colonists resolved to spend a day exploring the southeastern corner of the island from the Mercy to Cape Claw. This was a vast marshy area” (225). On their hike, they come across a species of wild dog that Harbert identifies as a culpeo. Reflecting on the variety of plant and animal species on the island, Cyrus hypothesizes that the island was originally not an island at all: “[I]t must be that Lincoln Island was once part of a vast continent, which gradually sank below the Pacific” (229-30).

The cold lasts until mid-August, forcing the men to spend much of their time indoors. When the temperature rises, a few of them set about building animal traps around Granite House for capturing any predators that might be lurking about and for food. Despite rising temperatures, a snowstorm forces the men to remain indoors. They craft new furniture and weave baskets. Over the course of the next few weeks, the temperatures continue to fluctuate, while the men refine tree sap into maple sugar.

Meanwhile, Cyrus is curious about the deep shaft in the middle of the cave. One day, a peccary the men capture and roast turns out to provide the most baffling mystery yet: Lodged in one of the creatures is a lead bullet.