}llt' in circuit; of a round form, and good height; and hath
'— --- ' deep waters dole to its Ihores. All the fea-coaft, and as far
Monday 20» , 1
inland as we could fee, is wholly covered with trees,
Ihrubs, 8cc.; amongft which were fome cocoa-nut trees;;
but what the interior parts may produce, we know not. To
judge of the whole garment by the fkirts, it cannot produce
much: for fo much as we faw of it confided wholly of coral
rocks, all over-run with woods and bufhes. Not a bit of foil
was to be feen; the rocks alone fupplying the trees with humidity.
If thefe coral rocks were firft formed in the fea by
animals, how came they thrown up to fuch an height ? Has
this ifland been raifed by an earthquake ? Or has the fea receded
from it ? Some philofophers have attempted to account
for the formation of low ifles, fuch as are in this fea; but I
do not know that any thing has been faid o f high iflands, or
fuch as I have been fpeaking of. In this ifland, not only the
loofe rocks which cover the furface, but the cliffs which
bound the Ihores, are of coral ftone, which the continual
beating of the fea has formed into a variety of curious caverns,
fome of them very large: the roof or rock over them
being fupported by pillars, which the foaming waves have
formed into a multitude of lhapes, and made more curious
than the caverns themfelves. In one, we faw light was admitted
through a hole at the top ; in another place, we ob-
ferved that the whole roof o f one of thefe caverns had funk
in, and formed a kind of valley above, which lay confider-
ably below the circumjacent rocks. I
I can fay but little of the inhabitants, who, I believe, are
not numerous. They feemed to be flout well made men,
were naked, except round the waifts, and fome o f them had
their faces, breaft, and thighs painted black. The canoes
6 were
were precifely like thofe of Amfterdam; with the addition o f Wb
a little riling like a gunwale on each fide of the open part; and ^ ^ 7 ?
had fome carving about them, which Ihewed that thefe people
are full as ingenious. Both thefe iflanders and their canoes,
agree very well with the defeription M. de Bougainville has
given o f thofe he faw off the Ifle of Navigators, which lies
nearly under the fame meridian.
After leaving Savage'Ifland, we continued to fleer W. S. W. Friday 24.
with a fine eafierly trade-wind, till the 24th in the evening,
when, judging ourfelves not far from Rotterdam, we
brought to, and fpent the night plying under the top-fails.
At day-break, next morning, we bore away Weft; and, foon Saturday 2;.
after, faw a firing of iflands extending from S. S. W. by the
Weft to N. N. W. The wind being at N. E., we hauled to
N. W., with a view o f difeovering more diftinftly the ifles in
that quarter; but, prefently after, we difeovered a reef of
rocks a-head, extending on each bow farther than we could
fee. As we could not weather them, it became neceffary to
tack and bear up to the South, to look for a paffage that
way. At noon, the fouthernmoft ifland bore S. W., diftant
four miles. North of this ifle were three 'others, all connected
by breakers, which we were not fure did not join to
thofe we had feen in the morning, as fome were obferved in
the intermediate fpace. Some iflands were alfo feen to the
Weft of thofe four ; but Rotterdam was not yet in fight. '
Latitude ao° 23' S„ longitude 1740 6' Weft. During the whole
afternoon, we had little wind; fo that, at funfet, the Ibuth-
ernmoft Ifle bore W. N. W., diftant five miles; and fome
breakers, we had feen to the South, bore now S. S. W. ~ W.
Soon after it fell calm, and we were left to the mercy of a
great eafterly fwell; which, however, happened to have no
great