General Zaroff inhabits the mysterious Ship-Trap Island
in "The Most Dangerous Game," known by sailors for the dangerous waters that surround
it. The island is located somewhere in the Caribbean Sea, through which Rainsford is
passing on his way to South America to hunt "up the Amazon" River from "Rio" de Janeiro.
When Rainsford swims ashore, he first encounters a rocky beach with cliffs above, and an
adjacent jungle. When he awakes the next afternoon, Rainsford follows the shore to what
he thinks is a village because of all the bright lights. However, it is a single mansion
set on a bluff with cliffs on three sides. When Rainsford meets Zaroff, he introduces
himself as being from New York City; Zaroff tells him he is a Russian Cossack. Zaroff
eventually shows Rainsford a false-channel off the island from where most of the
shipwrecked sailors come.
During the ensuing hunt,
Rainsford travels through the dense jungle, finally coming upon an area he calls Death
Swamp that was filled with quicksand. Further ahead he sees a gap which leads to
the shore, and from across a cove he can see Zaroff's chateau on the hill. From this
spot on the edge of the cliff, twenty feet above the waters below, Rainsford makes his
plunge to escape Zaroff.
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