appearance and fituation of the islands that I left behind me. I gave the general name of QUEEN CHARLOTTE'S ISLANDS to the whole cluftre, as well to those that I did not fee distinctly, as those that I did; and I gave feveral of them particular names as I approached them. 1767. Auguft. Island. To the southermost of the two, which when we first discovered land were right a-head, I gave the name of LORD HOW'S ISLAND, and the other was Egmont Ifland, of which fome account has already been given. Lord How's The latitude of Lord How's Ifland is 11° 10' S. longitude 164° 43′ E. the latitude of Cape Byron, the north-east point of Egmont Ifland, is 10° 40' S. 1ongitude 1640 40' E. The eaft fides of these two islands, which lie exactly in a line with each other, about N. by W. and S. by E. including the paffage between them, extend about eleven leagues, and the paffage is. about four miles broad; both of them appear to be fertile, and have a pleasant appearance, being covered with tall trees of a beautiful verdure. Lord How's Ifland, though more flat and even than the other, is notwithstanding high land. About thirteen leagues W. N. W. N. by compafs, from Cape Byron, there is an ifland of a stupendous height, and a conical figure. The top of it is fhaped like a funnel, from which we faw fmoke iffue, though no flame; it is, however, certainly a volcano, and therefore I called it VOLCANO ISLAND. To a long flat island that, when Volcano How's and Egmont's Islands were right a-head, bore Island. N. W. I gave the name of KEPPEL'S ISLAND. It Keppel's lies in latitude 10o 15' S. longitude by account, 1650 Island. The largest of two others to the S. E. I called LORD EDGECOMB'S ISLAND, the fmall one I called Lord EdgeOURRY'S ISLAND. Edgecomb's Ifland has a fine comb's pleafant appearance, and lies in latitude 11° 10' S. Ourry's longitude 165° 14' E. The latitude of Ourry's Inland land. is 11° 10' S. longitude 165° 19′ E. The other islands, of which there were feveral, I did not particularly 4'E. name. The Inhabitants of Egmont Island, whofe perfons have been described already, are extremely nimble, vigorous, and active, and feem to be almost as well qua lfland. 1767. lified to live in the water as upon the land, for they Auguft. were in and out of their canoes almoft every minute. The canoes that came out against us from the west end of the island, were all like that which our people brought on board, and might probably, upon occasion, carry about a dozen men, though three or four manage them with amazing dexterity: we faw, however, others of a large fize upon the beach, with awnings or fhades over them. Tuefd. 18. Thurf. 20. Gower's We got two of their bows, and a bundle of their arrows, from the canoe that was taken with the wounded man; and with thefe weapons they do execution at an incredible distance. One of them went through the boat's washboard, and dangerously wounded a midfhipman in the thigh. Their arrows were pointed with flint, and we faw among them no appearance of any metal. The country in general is woody and mountainous, with many vallies intermixed; several fmall rivers flow from the interior part of the country into the fea, and there are many harbours upon the coaft. The variation here was about 11° 15' E. CHA P. Departure from Egmont Illand, and Paffage to Nova Britannia; with a Defcription of feveral other Islands, and their Inhabitants. WE E made fail from this ifland in the evening of Tuesday the 18th of Auguft, with a fresh trade-wind from the eastward, and a few fqualls at times. At first we only hauled up W. N. W. for I was not without hope of falling in with fome other islands, where we might be more fortunate than we had been at those we left, before we got the length of Nova Britannia. On the 20th, we discovered a small, flat, low island, and got up with it in the evening: it lies in latitude 7° 56' S. longitude 158° 56′ E. and I gave it the name of GoWER'S ISLAND. To our great mortification we found no anchorage here, and could procure only a few cocoa-nuts from the inhabitants, who were much Auguft. Inland. much the fame kind of people that we had feen at Ifle 1767 Egmont, in exchange for nails and fuch trifles as we had; they promifed, by figns, to bring us more the next day, and we kept off and on all night: the night was extremely dark, and the next morning, at day- Friday 21. break, we found that a current had fet us confiderably to the southward of the island, and brought us within fight of two more. They were fituated nearly east and weft of each other, and were diftant about two miles. That to the eastward is much the fmalleft, and this we called SIMPSON'S ISLAND: to the other, which Simpson's is lofty and has a stately appearance, we gave the name Carteret's of CARTERET'S ISLAND. The east end of it bears Island. about fouth from Gower's Ifland, and the distance between them is about ten or eleven leagues. Carteret's Inland lies in about the latitude of 8° 26' S. longitude 1590 14' E. and its length from east to west is about fix leagues we found the variation here 8° 30' E. Both these islands were right to windward of us, and we bore down to Gower's Ifland. It is about two leagues and a half long on the western fide, which makes in bays the whole is well wooded, and many of the trees are cocoa-nut. We found here a confiderable number of the Indians, with two boats or canoes, which we supposed to belong to Carteret's Ifland, and to have brought the people hither only to fish. We sent the boat on fhore, which the natives endeavoured to cut off, and, hoftilities being thus commenced, we feized their canoe, in which we found about an hundred cocoa-nuts, which were very acceptable; we saw some turtles near the beach, but were not fortunate enough to take any of them. The canoe, or boat, was large enough to carry eight or ten men, and was very neatly built, with planks well joined: it was adorned with shell-work, and figures rudely painted, and the feams were covered with a substance somewhat like our black putty, but it appeared to me to be of a better confiftence. The people were armed with bows, arrows, and fpears; the fpears and arrows were pointed with flint. By fome figns which they inade, pointing to our muskets, we imagined they were not wholly unacquainted with fire arms. They are much the fame kind of people as we had seen at Egmont Ifland, : and, 1767 and, like them, were quite naked; but their canoes Auguft. were of a very different structure, and a much larger fize, though we did not difcover that any of them had fails. The cocoa-nuts which we got here, and at Egmont Island, were of infinite advantage to the fick. Satur. 22. Monday 24. From the time of our leaving Egmond Ifland, we had obferved a current fetting ftrongly to the fouthward, and in the neighbourhood of thefe iflands we found its force greatly encreased: this determined me, when I failed from Gower's Ifland, to fteer N. W. fearing we might otherwife fall in with the main land too far to the fouthward; for if we had got into any gulph or deep bay, our crew was fo fickly, and our ship so bad, that it would have been impoffible for us to have got out again. About eight o'clock in the morning of the 22d, as we were continuing our courfe with a fine fresh gale, Patrick Dwyer, one of the mariners, who was doing fomething over the ship's quarter, by fome accident miffed his hold and fell into the fea; we instantly threw over-board the canoe which we had seized at Gower's Ifland, brought the ship to, and hoifted out the cutter with all poffible expedition; but the poor fellow, though remarkably strong and healthy, funk at once, and we faw him no more. We took the canoe on board again, but she had received fo much damage by striking against one of the guns, as the people were hoifting her over-board, that we were obliged to cut her up. In the night of Monday the 24th, we fell in with nine iflands; they ftretch nearly N. W. by W. and S. E. by E. about fifteen leagues, and lie in latitude 4° 36′ S. longitude 154° 17 E. according to the fhip's account. I imagine thefe to be the islands which are called Ohang Java, and were difcovered by Tafman; for the fituation anfwers very nearly to their place in the French chart, which in the year 1756 was corrected for the King's fhips. The other iflands, Carteret's, Gower's, and Simpfon's I believe had never been seen by an European navigator before. There is certainly much land in this part of the ocean "not yet known. One One of these islands is of considerable extent, the other eight are scarcely better than large rocks; but though they are low and flat, they are well covered with wood, and abound with inhabitants. The people are black and woolly-headed, like the negroes of Africa their weapons are bows and arrows; and tbey have large canoes which they navigate with a fail, one of which came near us, but would not venture on board. 1767. Auguft. We went to the northward of these islands,and steered W. by S. with a strong south westerly current. At eleven o'clock at night we fell in with another island of a confiderable extent, flat, green, and of a pleasant appearance; we faw none of its inhabitants, but it appeared by the many fires which we faw in the night to be well peopled. It lies in latitude 4o 50'S. and bears weft fifteen leagues from the northermoft of the Nine Iflands, and we called it SIR CHARLES HARDY's Sir Charles ISLAND. Hardy's Inland. Tuef. 25. At day-break the next morning, we discovered another large high island, which, rifing in three confiderable hills, had, at a distance, the appearance of three iflands. We gave it the name of WINCHELSEA's WinchelISLAND; it is diftant from Sir Charles Hardy's Ifland fea's Ifland. about ten leagues, in the direction of S. by E. We had here the wind fqually, with unsettled weather, and a very strong wefterly current. Wedn. 26. About ten o'clock in the morning of the 26th, we faw another large island to the northward, which I supposed to be the fame that was difcovered by Schouten, and called the island of Saint John. Soon after we faw high land to the weftward, which proved to be Nova-Britannia, and as we approached it we found a very strong S. S. W. wefterly current, fetting at the rate of no less than thirty-two miles a day. The next Thurf. 27. day, having only light winds, a north westerly current fet us into a deep bay or gulph, which proved to be that which Dampier has diftinguished by the name of Saint George's Bay. Wallis's On the 28th, we anchored in a bay near a little Friday 28. island at the distance of about three leagues to the N. W. of Cape Saint George, which was called Wallis's Inland. I found the latitude of this Cape to be about Inland. |