)lp: of the illand which lies to the north. Mr. Banks and the
Friday 21. ‘ GentIemen were again on Ihore,. trading with the natives, and
examining the products and curiolities o f the country; they
faw nothing, however, worthy .notice, but fome more jawbones,
of which they made no doubt but- that the account
they had heard was true;,
i H f V ° n the Z2d and 23d >:'having flrdng gales and hazy wea-
Monday 24. ther, I did not think itfafe to put to Tea y but on the 24th
though the wind was ftill variable, I got under fail, and
plyed to the northward within the reef, with a view to go
out at a wider opening than that by which I had entered • in
doing this, however, I was unexpectedly in the mod im’mi-
nent danger of linking on the rock: the Mailer, whom I had
ordered to keep continually founding in the chains, fuddenly
called-out, ‘‘ two fathom.” This alarmed me, for though I
knew the ihip d rewatleaft fourteen feet, and that therefore
it was impoffible fuch a flioal Ihould be under her keel ■ yet
the Mailer was cither miflaken, or Ihe went along the edgl
■ r many-of which, in the neighbourhood of
thefe lflands, are as lleep as a wall.
This harbour or bay is called by the natives O o p o a , and
taken m its greateft extent, it is capable of holding any num-
ber of Ihipping. It extends almoft the whole length of the feaft
lide of the illand, and is defended from the Tea by a reef of
coral rocks: the fouthermoft opening in this reef, or channel
into the harbour, by which we entered, is little more
than a cable’s length wide ; it lies olf theeaftermoft point of
the illand, and may be known by another fmall woody
illand, which lies a little to thefouth eaftof it, called by the
Oatara. people here O a t a r a . Between three and four miles north
weft from this, illand-lie two other iflets, in the fame direction
as the reef, of which they are a part, called O p u r b r u
6 and
Opururu.