■ 774- bore E. N. E. ± E. diftant five leagues, and the ifland Magdalena
S. E., about nine leagues diftant. This was the only
Tuefday 12. we ^ad Gf this ifle. From hence I fleered S. S. W4W.
for Otaheite, with a view of falling in with fome of
thofe ifles difcovered by former navigators, efpecially thofe
difcovered by the Dutch, whole fituations are not well determined.
But it will be neceflary to return to the Marquefas; which
were, as I have already obferved, firft difcovered by Men-
dana a Spaniard, and from him obtained the general name
they now bear, as well as thofe of the different ifles. The
nautical account of them, in Mr. Dalrymple’s Collection of
Voyages to the South Seas *, is deficient in nothing but fitu-
ation. This was my chief reafon for touching at them; the-
fettling this point is the more ufeful, as it will, in a great
xneafure, fix the fituations of Mendana’s other difeoveries.
The Marquefas are five in number, viz. La Magdalena,
St. Pedro, La Dominica, Santa Chriftina, and Hood’s Ifland,
which is the northernmoft, fituated in latitude 90 26' South,,
and N. 13° Weft, five leagues and a half diftant, from the
Eaft point of La Dominica, which is the Iargeft of all the
ifles, extending Eaft and Weft, fix leagues. It hath an unequal
breadth, and is about fifteen or fixteen leagues in circuit.
It is full of rugged hills riling in ridges diredtly from
the fea; thefe ridges are disjoined by deep vallies, which are
clothed with wood, as are the fides of fome of the hills ; the
afpedt is, however, barren; but it is, neverthelefs, inhabited..
Latitude 90 44'30" South. St. Pedro, which is about three
leagues in circuit, and of a good height, lies South, four
* Vol. Iz p. 6 i. to 73.
leagues
leagues and an half from the Eaft end of La Dominica: we
know not if it be inhabited. Nature has not been very
bountiful to it. St. Chriftina lies under the fame parallel,
three or four leagues more to the Weft. This ifland ftretches
North and South, is nine miles long in that diredtion, and
about feven leagues in circuit. A narrow ridge of hills of
confiderable height extends the whole length of the ifland.
There are other ridges, which, riling from the fea, and with
an equal afcent, join the main ridge. Thefe are disjoined
by deep narrow vallies, which are fertile, adorned with fruit
and other trees, and watered by fine ftreams of excellent
water. La Magdalena we only faw at a diftance. Its fitua-
tion mull be nearly in the latitude of io° 25', longitude
1080 50'. So that thefe ifles occupy one degree in latitude,
and near half a degree in longitude, viz. from 138° 47' to
I39° I3/ Weft, which is the longitude of the Weft end of La
Dominica.
The port of Madre de Dios, which I named Refolution
Bay, is fituated near the middle of the Weft fide of St. Chriftina,
and under the higheft land in the ifland, in latitude
9° 5s' S°"> longitude i39°8' 40" Weft; and N. 15' W. from the
Weft end of La Dominica. The South point of the bay is a
fteep rock of confiderable height, terminating at the top in
a peaked hill, above which you will fee a path-way leading
up a narrow ridge to the fummits of the hills. The North
point is not fo high, and rifes with a more gentle Hope.
They are a mile from each other, in the diredtion of N. by
E. and S. by W. In the bay, which is near three quarters of
a mile deep, and has from thirty-four to twelve fathoms water,
with a clean fandy bottom, are two fandy coves, divided
from each other by a rocky point. In each is a rivulet of
R r a excellent