•769- which lay in different ridges, as higher or lower tides had April. 0 0
'---——t left them. It appeared to be «bout three or four leagues
long, and not more than two hundred yards wide; but as a
horizontal plain is always feen in perfpeftive, and greatly
fore-fhortened, it is certainly much wider than it appeared:
the horns, -or extremities of the bow, were two large tufts
of cocoa-nut trees ; and much the greater part of the arch
was covered with trees of different height, figure and hue;
in fome parts, however, it was naked and low like the cord :
fome of us thought they difcovered openings through the cord,
into the pool or lake, that was included between that and the
b ow ; but whether there were or were not fuch openings is
uncertain. We failed abreaft of the low beach, or bow-ftring,
within lefs than a league of the fhore, till funfet, and we
then judged ourfelves to be about half-way between the -two
horns: here we brought to, and founded, but -found no bottom
with one hundred and thirty fathom; and, as it is dark
almoft inftantly after funfet in tlie-fe latitudes, we fuddenly
loft fight o f the land, and making fail again, before the line
Was well hauled in, we fleered by the found o f the breakers,
which were diftinftly heard till we got clear.of the coaft.
We knew this ifland to be inhabited, by fmoke which we
faw in different parts of it, and we ga-ve it the name of Bow
I s l a n d . Mr. Gore, my Second Lieutenant, faid, after we
had failed by the ifland, that he had feen'feveral of the natives,
under the firft clump of trees, from the deck; that he
had diftinguifhed their houfes, and feen feveralcanoes hauled
up under the fhade; but in this he was more fortunate than
any other perfon on board. The eaft end of this ifland,
which from its figure we called the Bow, lies in latitude
180 23' S. and longitude 1410 12' W. we.obferved the variation
of the compafs to be 50 38' E.
On
On the next day, Thurfday the 6th, about noon, we faw
land again to the weftward, and came up with it about three.
It appeared to be two iflands, or rather groups of iflands,
extending from N.W. by N. to S.E. by S. about nine leagues.
Of tliefe, the two largeft were feparated from each other by
a channel of about half a mile broad, and were feverally
furrounded by fmaller iflands, to which they were joined by
reefs that lay under water.
Thurfday 6.
The Groups,
Thefe iflands were long narrow ftrips of land, ranging in
all directions, fome of them ten miles or upwards in length,
but none more than a quarter of a mile broad, and upon all
of them there were trees of various kinds, particularly the
cocoa-nut. The fouth-eaftermoft of them lies in the latitude
of i8° 12' S. and longitude 1420 43’ W. and at the diftance of
twenty-five leagues, in the direction of W. 4 N. from the
weft end of Bow Ifland. We ranged along the S.W. fide of
this ifland, and hauled into a bay which lies to the N. W. of
the fouthermoft point of the Group, where there was a
fmooth fea, and the appearance of anchorage, without much
furf on the. fhore. We founded, but we found rio bottom
with one hundred fathom, at the diftance of no more than
three quarters of a mile from the beach, and I did not think
it prudent to go nearer.
While this was doing, feveral of the inhabitants aflembled
upon the fhore, and fome came out in their canoes as far as
the reefs, but would not pafs them: when we faw this, we
ranged, with an eafy fail, along the fhore; but juft as we
were palling the end of the ifland, fix men, who had for
fome time kept abreaft of the fhip, fuddenly launched two
canoes with great quicknefs and dexterity, and three of
them getting into each, they put|pff, as we imagined,with
a defign to come on board us; the fhip was therefore brought
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