they pofiibly could, fqr the ufe o f themfelves and their mefs-mates,
when at fea. And, thefe purveyors returning on the evening of
the fame day, we then fet fire to the Bark and Proa, hoifted in
Our boats, and got under fail, fleering away towards the South
end of the Ifland o f Formofa, and taking our leaves for the third
andlaft time of the Ifland of ‘Tinian : An Ifland, which, whether
we confider the excellence of its produflion's, the beauty of its appearance,
the elegance of its woods and lawns, the healthinefs of
its air, or the adventures it gave rife to, may in all thefe views be
juftly Ailed romantic.
And now, poftponing for a Ihort time our run to Formofa, and
thence to Canton, I ftiall intefrupt the narration with a defcription
o f that range of Iflands, ufually called the Ladrones, or Marian
Hands, of which this of Tinian is one.
Thefe Hands were difcovered by Magellan in the year 1321 ;
and from the account given o f the two he firft fell in with, it
fhould feem that they were thofe of Saypan and Tinian; for they
are defcribed as very beautiful Hands, and as lying between 13
and 16 degrees_of North latitude. Thele charadteriftics are particularly
applicable to the two above-mention'ed places ;i. for the
pleafing appearance o f Tinian hath occafioned the Spaniards to give
it the additional name of Buenavifta-, and Saypan, which is in the
latitude of 150 : 22' North, affords no contemptible profpedl when
feen at fea, as is fufficiently evident from the annexed view of its
North Weft fide, taken at three leagues diftance.
There are ufually reckoned twelve of thefe Hands; but it will
appear, from the chart of the North part of the Pacific Ocean
hereafter inferted, that i f the fmall iflets and rocks are counted,
then their whole number will amount to above twenty. They were
formerly moft of them well inhabited ; and even not fixty years
ago, the three principal Hands, Guam, Rota, and Tinian together,
are aflerted to have contained above fifty thoufand people : But
fince that time Tinian hath been entirely depopulated j and no more
X x than