St. Christina stretches north and south, is nine miles long, and about seven leagues in circuit. A narrow ridge of hills of considerable height extends the whole length of the island. There are other ridges which, rising from the sea, and with an equal ascent, join the main ridge. These are disjoined by deep narrow valleys, which are fertile, adorned with fruit and other trees, and watered by fine streams of excellent water. La Magdalena we only saw at a distance. These isles occupy one degree in latitude,

and near half a degree in longitude, viz., from 138° 47′ to 139° 13′ W., which is the longitude of the west end of La Dominica.

The port of Madre de Dios, which I named Resolution Bay, is situated near the middle of the west side of St. Christina, and under the highest land in the island.

The men are punctured, or curiously tattooed, from head to

foot. But not the women and young children, who are therefore as fair as some Europeans. The men are in general tall; that is, about five feet ten inches or six feet; but I saw none that were fat and lusty like the Earees of Otaheite.

Their principal head-dress, and what appears to be their chief ornament, is a sort of broad fillet, curiously made of the fibres of the husk of cocoa-nuts. In the front is fixed a mother-of-pearl shell, wrought round to the size of a tea-saucer; before that, another, smaller, of very fine tortoise-shell, perforated into curious figures. Also before, and in the centre of that, is another round piece of mother-of-pearl, about the size of half-a-crown; and before this, another piece of perforated tortoise-shell, the size of a shilling. Besides this decoration in front, some have it also on each side, but in smaller pieces; and all have fixed to them the tail-feathers of cocks or tropic-birds, which, when the fillet is tied on, stand upright; so that the whole together makes a very sightly ornament. They wear round the neck a kind of ruff or necklace, call it which you please, made of light wood, the out and upper side covered with small red peas, which are fixed on with gum. They also wear small bunches of human hair, fastened to a string, and tied round the legs and arms.

When I found this island was not likely to supply us, on any conditions, with sufficient refreshments, such as we might expect to find at the Society Isles, nor very convenient for taking in wood and water, nor for giving the ship the necessary repairs she wanted, I resolved forthwith to leave it, and proceed to some other place where our wants might be effectually relieved. For, after having been nineteen weeks at sea, and living all the time upon salt diet, we could not but want some refreshments; although I must own, and that with pleasure, that on our arrival

here, it could hardly be said we had one sick man, and but a few who had the least complaint. This was undoubtedly owing to the many antiscorbutic articles we had on board, and to the great attention of the surgeon, who was remarkably careful to apply them in time.

I therefore steered for Otaheite, falling in with some of those islands discovered by former navigators, especially the Dutch, whose situations are not well determined, and made the high land of Otaheite on the 21st April, anchoring in Matavai Bay as formerly. This was no sooner known to the natives than many of them made us a visit, and expressed not a little joy at seeing us again. As my chief reason for putting in at this place was to give Mr. Wales an opportunity to know the error of the watch by the known longitude, and to determine anew her rate of going, the first thing we did was to land his instruments, and to erect tents for the reception of a guard and such other people as it was necessary to have on shore. Sick we had none; the refreshments we got at the Marquesas had removed every complaint of that kind.

Our treatment at this isle was such as had induced one of our gunner's mates to form a plan to remain at it. He know he could not execute it with success while we lay in the bay, therefore took the opportunity, as soon as we were out, the boats in, and sails set, to slip overboard, being a good swimmer: but he was discovered before he got clear of the ship, and we presently hoisted a boat out and took him up. A canoe was observed, about half-way between us and the shore, seemingly coming after us; she was intended to take him up; but as soon as the people in her saw our boat they kept at a distance. This was a preconcerted plan between the man and them,

which Otoo was