The Scar: “Beyond falls and cliffs there was a gash visible in the trees; there were
the splintered trunks and then the drag, leaving only a fringe of palm
between the scar and the sea. There, too, jutting into the lagoon, was the
platform, with insect-like figures moving near it” (Golding 26-27)
The Island: “It was roughly boat-shaped: humped near this end with behind them
the jumbled descent to the shore. On either side rocks, cliffs, treetops
and a steep slope: forward there, the length of the boat, a tamer descent,
tree-clad, with hints of pink: and then the jungly flat of the island, dense
green, but drawn at the end to a pink tail. There, where the island petered
out in water, was another island; a rock, almost detached, standing
like a fort, facing them across the green with one bold, pink bastion” (Golding 26)
Coral Reef: “Out there, perhaps a mile away, the white surf flinked on a coral reef, and
beyond that the open sea was dark blue. Within the irregular arc of coral
the lagoon was still as a mountain lake—blue of all shades and shadowy
green and purple. The beach between the palm terrace and the water
was a thin stick, endless apparently” (Golding 4)
Platform Meeting Place: “A great platform of pink granite thrust up uncompromisingly
through forest and terrace and sand and lagoon to make a raised jetty
four feet high” (Golding 6)
The Forest: “The most usual feature of the rock was a pink cliff surmounted by a skewed block; and that again surmounted, and that again, till the pinkness became a stack of balanced rock projecting through the looped fantasy of the forest creepers. Where the pink cliffs rose out of the ground there were often narrow tracks winding upwards. They could edge along them, deep in the plant world, their faces to the rock.”
Lagoon: “But the island ran true to form and the incredible pool, which clearly was only invaded by the sea at high tide, was so deep at one end as to be dark green. Ralph inspected the whole thirty yards carefully and then plunged in. The water was warmer than his blood and he might have been swimming in a huge bath”
Mountain: “They were on the lip of a circular hollow in the side of the mountain. This was filled with a blue flower, a rock plant of some sort, and the overflow hung down the vent and spilled lavishly among the canopy of the forest. The air was thick with butterflies, lifting, fluttering, settling. Beyond the hollow was the square top of the mountain and soon they were standing on it”
Beach: “The three boys walked briskly on the sand. The tide was low and there was a strip of weed-strewn beach that was almost as firm as a road.”
Shore: “The shore was fledged with palm trees. These stood or leaned or re- clined against the light and their green feathers were a hundred feet up in the air.”
Coral Reef: “The coral was scribbled in the sea as though a giant had bent down to reproduce the shape of the island in a flowing chalk line but tired before he had finished.”
This is the ideal landscape of the island that my group came up with.