Fire-wood is very convenient to be got at, and eafy to be
flopped off; but the water is fobrackifh that it is not worth the
. trouble of carrying it on board; unlefs one is in great diftrefs
•for want of that article, and can get no better. There is,
however, better, not only on this ifle, but on Others in the
neighbourhood; for the people brought us fome in cocoa-
nut fhells which was as good as need be ; but probably the
fprings are too trifling to water a fhip.
I have already obferved that the S. W. fide of. the ifland is
covered by a reef of reefs or rocks, and fmall ifies. If there
be a fufficient depth of water between them and the ifland,
as there appeared to be, and a good bottom, this would be
a much fecurer place for a fhip to anchor in, than that where
we had our Ration.
C H A P . III.
The Paffage from ■ the Friendly Ifes to the New Hebrides ;
with an Account o f the Difcovery o f Turtle I f and, and
a Variety o f Incidents which happened, both before and
after the Ship arrived in Port Sandwich in the I f and of
Mallicollo.— A Defcriptipn- o f the Port ', -the adjacent \
Country ; its Inhabitants, and many other Particulars.
O N the ift of July, at fun-rife, Amattafoa was ftill in ^
‘ fight, bearing E. by N., diflant twenty leagues. Con- Jaiytinuing
our courfe to the Weft, we, the next day at noon, Friday 1.
difcovered land bearing N. W. by W., for which we fleered;
and, upon a nearer approach, found it to be a fmall ifland.
At four o’clock it bore, from N. W. I f f , to N, W. by N., and
at the fame .time, breakers were feen from the maft-head, extending
from W. to S.,W, The day being too far fpent to
make farther difcoveries, we foon after Ihortened fail, hauled
the wind, and fpent the night making fhort boards, which,
at day-break, we found had been fo advantageous that we SaturJa f
were farther from the ifland than we expected, and it was
.eleven o’clock before we .reached the N. W. or lee fide, where
anchorage and landing feemed practicable. In order to obtain
a knowledge of the former, I fent the matter with a boat, to
found ;. and, in the mean time, we flood- on and off with the
fhip. At this time four or five people were feen on the reef,
which lies round the ifle, and about three times that number
on the fhore. As the boat advanced,, thofe on the reef
retired.