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1769.

March.

On the 25th, about noon, one of the marines, a young fellow about twenty, was placed as centry at the cabbin-door; while he was upon this Saturd, 25. duty, one of my fervants was at the same place preparing to cut a piece of feal-fkin into tobacco pouches: he had promised one to several of the men, but had refufed one to this young fellow, though he had asked him several times; upon which he jocularly threatened to steal one, if it fhould be in his power. It happened that the fervant being called haftily away, gave the fkin in charge to the centinel, without regarding what had paffed between them. The centinel immediately fecured a piece of the skin, which the other miffing at his return, grew angry; but after fome altercation, contented himself with taking it away, declaring, that, for fo trifling an affair, he would not complain of him to the officers. But it happened that one of his fellow-foldiers, overhearing the difpute, came to the knowledge of what had happened, and told it to the reft; who, taking it into their heads to ftand up for the honour of their corps, reproached the offender with great bitternefs, and reviled him in the moft opprobrious terms; they exaggerated his offence into a crime of the deepest dye; they said it was a theft by a centry when he was upon duty, and of a thing that had been committed to his truft; they declared it a difgrace to affociate with him; and the ferjeant, in particular, faid that,

X 4

1769. March.

that, if the perfon from whom the skin had been ftolen would not complain, he would complain Saturd. 5. himself; for that his honour would suffer if the offender was not punished. From the fcoffs and reproaches of these men of honour, the poor young fellow retired to his hammock in an agony of confufion and fhame. The ferjeant foon after went to him, and ordered him to follow him to the deck: he obeyed without reply; but it being in the dufk of the evening, he flipped from the ferjeant and went forward: he was feen by fome of the people, who thought he was gone to the head; but a search being made for him afterwards, it was found that he had thrown himself overboard; and I was then firft made acquainted with the theft and its circumstances.

Tuesday 4. Lagoon Inand.

The lofs of this man was the more regretted as he was remarkably quiet and industrious, and as the very action that put an end to his life was a proof of an ingenuous mind; for to fuch only difgrace is infupportable.

On Tuesday the 4th of April, about ten o'clock in the morning, Mr. Banks's fervant, Peter Briscoe, discovered land, bearing fouth, at the distance of about three or four leagues. I immediately hauled up for it, and found it to be an island of an oval form, with a lagoon in the middle, which occupied much the larger part of it; the border of land which circumfcribes the lagoon

1769.
April.

lagoon is in many places very low and narrow,
particularly on the fouth fide, where it consists
principally of a beach or reef of rocks: it has Tuesday 4.
the fame appearance also in three places on the
north-fide; fo that the firm land being disjoin-
ed, the whole looks like many islands covered
with wood. On the west end of the island is a
large tree, or clump of trees, that in appearance
resembles a tower; and about the middle are
two cocoa-nut trees, which rife above all the
reft, and, as we came near to the island, appear-
ed like a flag. We approached it on the north
fide, and though we came within a mile, we
found no bottom with 130 fathom of line, nor
did there appear to be any anchorage about it.
The whole is covered with trees of different ver-
dure, but we could diftinguish none, even with
our glaffes, except cocoa-nuts and palm-nuts.
We faw feveral of the natives upon the fhore, and
counted four and twenty. They appeared to
be tall, and to have heads remarkably large;
perhaps they had fomething wound round them.
which we could not diftinguish; they were of a
copper colour, and had long black hair. Eleven
of them walked along the beach abreast of the
ship, with poles or pikes in their hands which
reached twice as high as themselves: while they
walked on the beach they seemed to be naked;
but foon after they retired, which they did as
foon as the fhip had paffed the island, they

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1769. April.

them

covered themselves with fomething that made appear of a light colour. Their habita. Tuesday 4. tions were under fome clumps of palm-nut trees, which at a distance appeared like high ground; and to us, who for a long time had feen nothing but water and fky, except the dreary hills of Terra del Fuego, these groves feemed a terreftrial paradife. To this fpot, which lies in latitude 18° 47" S., and longitude 139° 28′ W. we gave the name of LAGOON ISLAND. The variation of the needle here is 2° 54′ E.

Thrumb.
Cap.

About one o'clock we made fail to the weftward, and about half an hour after three we faw land again to the N. W. We got up with it at funset, and it proved to be a low woody island, of a circular form, and not much above a mile in compass. We discovered no inhabitants, nor could we diftinguifh any cocoa-nut trees, though we were within half a mile of the fhore. The land, however, was covered with verdure of many hues. It lies in latitude 18° 35′ S., and longitude 139° 48′ W., and is diftant from Lagoon Ifland, in the direction of N. 62 W. about feven leagues. We called it THRUMB-CAP. I difcovered by the appearance of the shore, that at this place it was low water; and I had obferved at Lagoon Island, that it was either highwater, or that the fea neither ebbed nor flowed: I infer, therefore, that a S. by E. or S. moon makes high-water.

We

We went on with a fine trade-wind and pleafant weather, and on the 5th, about three in the afternoon, we difcovered land to the weftward, It proved to be a low inland, of much greater extent than either of thofe that we had feen before, being about ten or twelve leagues in compafs. Several of us remained at the maft-head the whole evening, admiring its extraordinary figure: it was fhaped exactly like a bow, the arch and cord of which were land, and the space between them water; the cord was a flat beach, without any figns of vegetation, having nothing upon it but heaps of fea-weed, which lay in different ridges, as higher or lower tides had left them. It appeared to be about three or four leagues long, and not more than two hundred yards wide; but as a horizontal plane is always feen in perspective, and greatly forefhortened, it is certainly much wider than it appeared the horns, or extremities of the bow, were two large tufts of cocoa-nut trees; and much the greater part of the arch was covered with trees of different height, figure, and hue; in some parts, however, it was naked and low like the cord: fome of us thought they difcovered openings through the cord, into the pool or lake, that was included between that and the bow; but whether there were or were not fuch openings is uncertain. We failed abreast of the low beach or bow-ftring, within less than a

league

$769.

April.

Wednef. 5.

Bow Inland,

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