The engineers proposal was unanimously applauded. Spilett put down the names over the proper places, and the geographical nomenclature of the island was complete.
Now, said the reporter, to that peninsula projecting from the southwest I propose to give the name of Serpentine Peninsula[54], and to call the twisted curve at the termination of it Reptile End[55], for it is just like a snakes tail.
And the other extremity of the island, said Herbert, the gulf so like an open pair of jaws, let us call it Shark Gulf[56].
Good enough, said Pencroff, and we may complete the figure by calling the two capes North Mandible[57] and South Mandible[58]. Now we must name the southwestern extremity of the island.
Claw Cape[59], suggested Neb.
The river with fresh water they called the Mercy[60]. The islet on which they first set foot, was Safety Island[61]; the plateau at the top of the high granite wall above the Chimneys, from which the whole sweep of the bay was visible, Prospect Plateau[62]; and, finally, that mass of impenetrable woods which covered Serpentine Peninsula, the Forests of the Far West[63].
All was settled, and the colonists were about to descend the mountain, when Pencroff cried:
Why, what idiots we are!
Why so? said Spilett, who had closed his note-book.
We have forgotten to name our island!
Cyrus Smith said quietly:
Let us give it the name of a great citizen, my friends, of the defender of American unity! Let us call it Lincoln Island[64]!
Chapter XII
The colonists of Lincoln Island walked around the verge of the crater. Half an hour afterwards they were again upon the lower plateau. Pencroff thought it was breakfast time.
As they were leaving the plateau, Smith proposed to his companions to take a new road back to the Chimneys. He wished to explore Lake Grant, which lay surrounded so beautifully with trees. The colonists employed in conversation only the proper names which they had just devised, and found that they could express themselves much more easily. Herbert and Pencroff, one of whom was young and the other something of a child, were delighted, and the sailor said as they walked along:
Well, Herbert, this is jolly! We cant lose ourselves now, my boy, since, whether we follow Lake Grant or get to the Mercy through the woods of the Far West, we must come to Prospect Plateau, and so to Union Bay.