176;. great noife above, and when I enquired what was the mat-
■ -°1* . ter, I was told that the Tamar, who was ahead, had fired a
Friday 21. gUIlj an(j that’ our .people faw breakers to leeward : I ran
inftantly upon deck, and foon perceived that what had been
taken for breakers was nothing more than the undulating
reflection of the moon, which was going down, and fhone
faintly from behind a cloud in the horizon; we therefore
bore away after the Tamar, but did not get fight o f her till
an hour afterwards.
Moaday 24. Nothing worthy o f notice happened till Monday the 24th,
when, about ten o'clock in the morning, we difcovered another
illand, bearing S. S. W. diftant about feven or eight
leagues: we fleered for it, and found it to be low, but
covered with wood, among which were cocoa-nut trees in
great abundance. It had a pleafant appearance, and a large
lake in the middle, like King George’s Illand: it is near
thirty miles in circumference, a dreadful fea breaks upon
almoft every part o f the coaft, and a great deal o f foul
ground lies about it. We failed quite round it, and when
we were on the lee-fide, fent our boats to found, in hopes o f
.finding anchorage jj no foundings, however, were to be got
near the Ihore, but I fent the boats out a fecond time,
with orders to land, i f it were poflible, and procure fome
refrefhments for the lick: they landed with great difficulty,
and brought off about two hundred cocoa-nuts, which, to
perfons in our circumftances, were an ineftimable treafure.
The people who were on Ihore, reported that there were no
figns o f its having ever been inhabited, but that they found
thoufands o f fea fowl fitting upon their nefls, which were
built in high trees: thefe birds were fo tame that they fuf-
fered themfelves to be knocked down without leaving their
nefls: the ground was covered with land crabs, but our
people faw no other animal. At firft I was inclined to believe
Iieve that this illand was the fame that in the Neptune Fran- 1765.
fois is called Maluita, and laid down about a degree to the ■ — .
eaftward o f the great illand of Saint Elizabeth, which is the Monday2*'
principal o f the Solomon’s Iflands; but being afterwards
convinced of the contrary, I called it the D uke of Y o r k ’s Dukeof-
Is l a n d , in honour of his late Royal H-ighnefs, and I am of uund!
opinion that we were the firft human beings who ever faw
it. There is indeed great reafon to believe that there is no
good authority for laying down Solomon’s Iflands in the-fitu-
ation that is affignedto them by the French: the only perfon
who-has pretended to have feenthem is Quiros, and I doubt
whether he left behind him any account of them by which
they might be found by future navigators.
We continued our courle till the 39th, in the track o f thefe Saturday 29.
iflands, and being, then ten degrees to the weft ward o f their
fituation in the chart, without having feen any thing of
them, I hauled to the northward, in order to crofs the equi-
noxial, and afterwards fhape my courfe for the Ladrone
Iflands, which, though a long run, I hoped to accomplilh
before I.lhould be diftrefled for water, notwithftanding it
now began to fall Ihort. Our latitude, this day, was 8°
13' Si, longitude 176° 3.0' E. and the variation was mm 10' E.
Oh Tuefday the 2d o f July, we again faw many birds July,
about the Ihip, and at four o’clock in the afternoon, dif- Tuefda)’ 2‘
covered an illand bearing: north, and diftant about fix
leagues: we flood, for it till fun-fet, when it: was diftant
about four leagues,, and then kept.off and on. for the night.
In the morning, we found it a low flat Illand, o f a moft de- WeJnef 3,.
lightful appearance, and full o f wood, among which the
cocoa-nut tree was very confpicuous: we faw, however, to
our great regret, much foul ground about it, upon which
the fea broke with a dreadful furf. We fleered along the
6: fouthi