•Se c t . IE I S L A N D S.
anx»s. L L the Hand's which we faw during our voyage are either
fituated within the tropicks, or in the temperate zones;1 Th e
Tropical Hands may be again divided into high and low.
Thehtgh Tropical Hands are either furrounded by reefs, and have
flats near the fea-fbore, or they are without reefs,' O f the firft
kind are O-Taheitee with all the Society Ifles and Maatea, the
higher Friendly Hes Tongatahu, Eaoowe, Namocka, Turtle Hand
and new Caledonia. .
Amongft the higheft Tropical Ifles without a reef, we reckon the
Marquesas and all the new Hebrides; togerW with Savage Hand;
and Tofooa and Oghao among the Friendly Hes.
T h e Low Hes o f which we have any knowledge, are Chrin-
Ifland and four other Hes, which were perhaps fcen b y ' Mr
DC BCtogainViIIe; • Teoukea with four more called
P a lh fe ’s Ifles, Tupai, Mopeeha-or Howe’s H e s ; P a lm e r fW s Hes ,
tviththe Immer, one o f the new Hebrides, and the Arehipelago o f
the Low Friendly Hands.
Thefe ifles are fo d i fe e n t from each other in their nature, that
W£ C3nnat f l j at f i j j ) S e r v in g the frriking and material
difference. T h e Low Hes are commonly narrow, low ledges o f
coral rocks, including in the middle a kind o f lagoon and having
here and there little fandy fpots fomewhat elevated above high-water
mark, whereon coco nuts and a few other plants will thrive: islands ;
the reft of the ledge o f rocks is fo low, that the fea frequently flows
over it.at high, and fometimes at.low water. Several o f the larger
ifles o f this kind are regularly inhabited; fome are only refarted to,
now and then by the inhabitants o f the neighbouring high ifles,,
for the purpofes o f fifhing* fowling and turtling; and fome others
are abfolutely uninhabited,, though they are furnifhed with coco nuttrees.
and are often reforted to in great, flocks by man o f war birds,,
boobies, gulls, terns and fome petrels...
Th e high Hands o f both kinds appear at a diftance, like large hills
in the midft o f the oeean, and fome o f them are greatly elevated,,
fo that their fummits are feldom free from clouds.. Thofe, which;
are furrounded. by a reef and by a. fertile plain, along the fea-fliores,
have commonly a more gentle flope;. whereas the others are fuddenly
fteep. It. muft be allowed, however, that the hills in fome o f the
n ew Hebrides viz. Ambrrym, Sandwich H e , Tanna and others,
have likewife in feveral places an eafy afcent.
Th e Hands feen by us in the South Sea in the temperate Southern,
zone,, are. Eafter Hand,. Norfolk Hand, and new Zeeland, .and thefe.
are all high,.and.have no reef furroundihg them. Norfolk Hand i s .
however, fituated upon a bank extending more than ten pr. twelve;
miles round.it.. New Zeeland as far.as we had an opportunity of
examining it, conlifts of vary high hills, o f which fome in the.
very interior parts have fummits almoft always involved in clouds,