179s- no means unlikely, that fome other illand might exift not very far
remote from this, to which thefe apparently contradictory reports might
■ more properly apply.
Two opinions were formed relpeCling an infcription that was found
cut on a rock near to our watering place; the letters, which had been
■ originally but ill executed, were much defaced.
Look v as’ you goe for ye I Coco.
This I contidered as purporting, “ Look to.fouth as you go, for the
“ illand of Coco,” but the more prevailing! opinion amongft us was, that
it meant, “ Look as you go,, for the illand of Coco,” meaning this identical
illand. The defaced .character after the word “ look” .might poffi-
bly have originally been intended to ligntfy the north, yet as we met with
no other in its vicinity, it is probable that this; latter opinion was moll;
correCt; for which realon I have adopted the name of Cocos for the
illand in queftion.
According to the Iketch made by Mr. Whidbey, the illand of Cocos
is about 4 leagues in circuit, lying in a m. e. and s. w . direction; it is
about four miles- long, and two miles broad, with feveral detached rocks
and illets fcattered about-its Ihores; thofe lying off its fouth-weft part extend
to the greateft diftance, which is nearly two miles, but they cannot
be confidered as dangerous becaufe they are fufficiently high to be feen
and avoided.. The fmall bay in which we had anchored at the north-eaft
end of the illand is greatly to be preferred to the other wellward of it;
for the fmall diet that lies off its north-weft point adds greatly to its pro-
teftion from the wind and fea. The width of the bay from point- to point
of the two illets that form each of its- extremities is about a mile, in a
direction s. 52 e . and n . 52 w,, and from this line its extent to the bottom
of the bay is alfo about a mile; the foundings are regular from 12
to 50 fathoms, and veffels may ride very fnugly within lefs than half a
mile of the beach, in about 20 fathoms water, but in a'lefs depth the
bottom did not appear to - be fo free- from rocks. The weftern bay is
more extenfive andmore expofed, and its foundings are neither fo regular,
nor is the bottom fo good; but from the abundance and great variety
of vegetable productions that grow clofe to the verge of high water
' mark
mark in both bays, it fhould Teem that neither of them are fubjeCt to
very-violent ftorms, or heavy feas. The climate was confidered by us t--- -—
as temperate and falubrious, for although the thermometer was ufually
between 78 and 80, we did not feel that oppreffive heat which we had
experienced further to the northward; and notwithftanding that our
people were greatly expofed; to the heavy rains that fell while tranfaCling
our bufinefs on Ihore, yet not the leaft interruption from want of health
took place, which in various other tropical illands frequently attends
the .execution of fimilar fervices.
This illand cannot be confidered as having a pleafant appearance in any
one point of view, for although its inland furface is much diverfified by
hills and valleys; yet the only low land of any extent that wé were certain
it poffeffes is in the bottom of the two bays, each of which form the
extremity of one of thefe valleys bounded by craggy precipices, from thé
foot of which extends a narrow ftrip of low flat land that terminates in a
beach at the water fide, refembling more the dreary profpeCl exhibited at
the heads of the feveral branches of fea we had fo recently explored on the
coaft of North Weft America, than any thing elfe I c-ould compare them
to. Every other part of .the Ihore feemed to be compofed of fteep,
broken precipices of rock, of which fubftance the interior of the illand
'was apparently compofed, as the naked cliffs were frequently feen protruding
their barren Tides through the thicket, which otherwife covered
the furface of the illand. This thicket, fo far as we were enabled
to afeertain, was chiefly compofed of a great variety of trees of a moderate
fize, with an impenetrable underwood of the vine or fupplejack
kind, which oppofed any excurfion into the country; fome attempts
were, I believe, made to penetrate thither by the water courfe, but this,
from rocky precipices and other obftruCtions, was found to be equally
impracticable; our knowledge of its productions muff confequently be
confined to our obfervations on the fmall margin between the woods and
the Tea Ihore, the only part that Was acceffible to us. In refpeCt of
its future utility, the firft objeCt of confideration to maritime people is
the abundant fupply of water that it affords. This abounds in every part
of the illand, and is to be eafily procured at the ftations to which veffels
VOL. III. ; 3 B CaIÏ