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There's a sentence within a novel that I don't understand. Can you break it down for me?

The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the lagoon. Though he had taken off his school sweater and trailed it now from one hand, his grey shirt stuck to him and his hair was plastered to his forehead. All round him the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of heat

What scar? Is the scar "the bath of heat"? Why does it say all round and not "all around"?

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    I'm sure it could be explained by the surrounding context which might help explain what the 'scar' might be. I don't have the entire text with me for this literary interpretation. The 'bath of heat' is a metaphor, as though you are swimming in a liquid bath of something, that thing being heat. 'All round' sounds OK (a bit old-fashioned?) as an alternative to 'all around'
    – Mitch
    May 24, 2015 at 3:17
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    I think the "scar" was the path made through the trees by the crashing airplane.
    – Hot Licks
    May 24, 2015 at 3:27
  • The long "scar" might be the path the plane that crashed down cut into the jungle of the island.
    – rogermue
    May 24, 2015 at 7:45
  • If you search the site for "bath of heat" you will find a number of questions about this sentence.
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    May 24, 2015 at 8:42
  • @Mitch Actually it's the first paragraph of the book. It is a bit strange, but I think wanting to find out about the scar, make sense of it, is what provides the suspense that propels us to keep reading.
    – Araucaria - Him
    May 24, 2015 at 10:46

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