side, where it consists principally of a beach or reef of rocks. We saw several of the natives upon the shore, and counted four and twenty. They appeared to be tall, and to have heads remarkably large; perhaps they had something wound round them which we could not distinguish; they were of a copper colour, and had long black hair. Their habitations were under some clumps of palm-nut trees, which at a distance appeared like high

Polynesian Island-Lagoon shaped, and composed of Coral.

ground; and to us, who for a long time had seen nothing but water and sky, except the dreary hills of Terra del Fuego, these groves seemed a terrestrial Paradise. To this spot we gave the name of Lagoon Island.

About one o'clock we made sail to the westward, and about half an hour after three we saw land again to the N.W. We got up with it at sunset, and it proved to be a low woody island, of a circular form, and not much above a mile in compass. We called it Thrumb Cap.

We went on with a fine trade-wind and pleasant weather, and on the 5th, about three in the afternoon, we discovered land to the westward. It proved to be a low island of much greater extent than either of those that we had seen before, being about ten or twelve leagues in compass. Several of us remained at the mast-head the whole evening, admiring its extraordinary figure; it was shaped exactly like a bow, the arc and cord of which were land, and the space between them water; the cord was a flat beach, without any signs of vegetation, having nothing upon it but heaps of sea-weed, which lay in different ridges, as higher or lower tides had left them. We sailed a-breast of the low beach or bow-string, within less than a league of the shore, till sunset, and we then judged ourselves to be half way between the two horns. Here we brought too and sounded, but found no bottom with one hundred and thirty fathoms; and, as it is dark almost instantly after sunset in these latitudes, we suddenly lost sight of the land, and making sail again, before the line was well hauled in, we steered by the sound of the breakers, which were distinctly heard till we got clear of the coast. We knew this island to be inhabited, by smoke which we saw in different parts of it, and we gave it the name of Bow Island.

On the next day, Thursday the 6th, about noon, we saw land again to the westward, and came up with it about three. It appeared to be two islands, or rather groups of islands, extending from N.W. by N., to S.E. by S., about nine leagues. To these islands we gave the name of the Groups.

On the 7th, about half an hour after six in the morning, being just at daybreak, we discovered another island to the northward, which we judged to be about four miles in circumference. The land lay very low, and there was a piece of water

in the middle of it; there seemed to be some wood upon it, and it looked green and pleasant; but we saw neither cocoa-trees nor inhabitants it abounded, however, with birds, and we, therefore, gave it the name of Bird Island.

On the 8th, about two o'clock in the afternoon, we saw land to the northward, and about sunset came abreast of it, at about the distance of two leagues. It appeared to be a double range of low woody islands joined together by reefs, so as to form one island, in the form of an ellipsis or oval, with a lake in the middle of it. The small islands and reefs that circumscribe the lake have the appearance of a chain, and we therefore gave it the name of Chain Island.

On the 10th, having had a tempestuous night with thunder and rain, the weather was hazy till about nine o'clock in the morning, when it cleared up, and we saw the island to which Captain Wallis, who first discovered it, gave the name of Osnaburgh Island. It is a high round island, not above a league in circuit; in some parts it is covered with trees, and in others a naked rock. In this direction it looked like a high-crowned hat; but when it bears north, the top of it has more the appearance of the roof of a house.

TAHITI OR OTAHEITE.

About one o'clock, on Monday the 10th of April, some of the people who were looking out for the island to which we were bound, said they saw land a-head, in that part of the horizon where it was expected to appear; but it was so faint that whether there was land in sight or not remained a matter of dispute till sunset. The next morning, however, at six o'clock, we were convinced that those who said they had discovered land

were not mistaken; it appeared to be very high and mountainous, extending from W. by S. S. to W. by N. & N., and we knew it to be the same that Captain Wallis had called King George III.'s Island. We were delayed in our approach to it by light airs and calms, so that in the morning of the 12th we were but little nearer than we had been the night before; but about seven a breeze sprang up, and before eleven several canoes were seen making towards the ship: there were but few of them, however, that would come near; and the people in those that did could not be persuaded to come on board. In every canoe there were young plantains, and branches of a tree which the Indians call E'Midho: these, as we afterwards learnt, were brought as tokens of peace and amity; and the people in one of the canoes handed them up the ship's side, making signals at the same time with great earnestness, which we did not immediately understand; at length we guessed that they wished these symbols should be placed in some conspicuous part of the ship; we, therefore, immediately stuck them among the rigging, at which they expressed the greatest satisfaction. We then purchased their cargoes, consisting of cocoa-nuts and various kinds of fruit, which after our long voyage were very acceptable.

We stood on with an easy sail all night, with soundings from twenty-two fathom to twelve, and about seven o'clock in the morning we came to an anchor in thirteen fathom, in Portroyal Bay, called by the natives Matavai. We were immediately surrounded by the natives in their canoes, who gave us cocoa-nuts, fruit resembling apples, bread-fruit, and some small fishes, in exchange for beads and other trifles. They had with them a pig, which they would not part with for anything but a hatchet, and therefore we refused to purchase it; because if we gave

them a hatchet for a pig now, we knew they would never afterwards sell one for less, and we could not afford to buy as many as it was probable we should want at that price. The bread-fruit grows on a tree that is about the size of a middling oak; its leaves are frequently a foot and a half long, of an oblong shape, deeply sinuated like those of the fig-tree, which they resemble in consistence and colour, and in the exuding of a white milky juice upon being broken. The fruit is about the size and shape of a child's head, and the surface is reticulated, not much unlike a truffle: it is covered with a thin skin, and has a core about as big as the handle of a small knife: the eatable part lies between the skin and the core: it is as white as snow, and somewhat of the consistence of new bread: it must be roasted before it is eaten, being first divided into three or four parts: its taste is insipid, with a slight sweetness, somewhat resembling that of the crumb of wheaten bread mixed with a Jerusalem artichoke.

Bread Fruit.

Among others who came off to the ship was an elderly man, whose name, as we learnt afterwards, was Owhaw, and who was immediately known to Mr. Gore, and several others who had been here with Captain Wallis. As I was informed that he had been very useful to them, I took him on board the ship with some others, and was particularly attentive to gratify him, as I hoped he might also be useful to us.

As soon as the ship was properly secured, I went on shore with a party of men under arms. We were received from the boat by some hundreds of the inhabitants, whose looks at least gave us welcome, though they were struck with such awe, that

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