1774* very narrow ftrip between the fea-Ihore and the foot o f the
■ Aueult , hjjig j for the bay, as well as the flat land at the head of it,
Satunny * . ig bounded on each fide by a ridge of hills, one of which,
that to the Weft, is very high and double, extending the
whole length of the ifland. Ah uncommonly luxuriant vegetation
was every where to be feen; the fides of the hills
were checquered with plantations; and every valley wateied
by a ftream. Of all the productions of nature this country was
adorned with, the cocoa-nut trees were the moft confpicuous.
The columns of fmoke we faw by day, and the fires by night,
all over the country,Ted us to believe that it is well inhabited
and very fertile. The eaft point of this bay, which I name
Cape Quiros, in memory of its firft difcoverer, is fituated in
latitude 140 5<5' South, longitude 167^13' Eaft. The N. W.
point,which I named Cape Cumberland, in honour of his Royal
Highneft the Duke,, lies in the latitude of 140 38' 45" South,
longitude 166° 49'4 Eaft, and is the N. W. extremity of this
Archipelago; for, after doubling it, we found the coaft to
trend gradually round to the South and S. S. E.
Sunday 28. On the 28th and 29th, we had light airs agd calms, fo that
Monuay a9. advanced'but little. In this time, we took every opportunity,
when the horizon was clearer than ufual, to look
’ out for more land; but none was feen. By Quiros’s track to
the North, after leaving the bay above mentioned, it feems
probable that there is none nearer than Queen Charlotte s
Ifland, difcovered by Captain Carteret, which lies about
ninety leagues N.N. W. from Cape Cumberland, and I take
fo be the fame with Quiros’s Santa Cruz.
On the 30th, the calm was fucceeded by a frefti breeze at
Tuefday 30. ^ ^ £_ which enabled us to ply up the coaft. At noon we
obfervedin i5°2o'; afterwards we ftr.etched in Eaft, to within
in a mile of the fhore, and then tacked, in feventy-five fa- 1774-
thorns, before a Tandy flat, on which feveral of the natives >
made their appearance. We obferved, on the fides of the Tuefda)' 3°*
hills, feveral plantations that were laid out by line and
fenced round.
On the 31ft, at noon, the South or S. W. point of the ifland Wedner. 31.
bore N. 62° Eaft, diftant four leagues. This forms the N. W.
point of what I call Bougainville’s PalTage; the N. E. point,
at this time, bore N. 85" Eaft, and the N. W. end of Mallicollo
from S. 5:4° Eaft to S. 720 Eaft. Latitude obferved 150 45' S.
In the afternoon, in ftretching to the Eaft, we weathered the
S. W. point of the ifland, from which the coaft trends Eaft,
northerly- It is low, and feemed to form fome creeks or
coves; and, as we got farther into the paflage, we perceived
fome fmall low ifles lying along it, which feemed to
extend behind St. Bartholomew Ifland.
Having now finifhed the furvey of the whole Archipelago,,
the feafon of the year made it neceflary for me to return to-
the South, while I had yet fome time left to explore any land
I might meet with between this and New Zealand; where I
intended to touch, that I might refrefh my people, and recruit
our.ftock of wood and water for another fouthern courfe.
With this view, at five P, M. we tacked, and hauled to the
fouthward with a frefh gale at S.. E. At this time the N. W.
point of the paflage, or the S. W. point of the ifland Tierra
del Efpiritu Santo, the only remains of Quiros’s continent,
bore ,N. 82° Weft, diftant three leagues. I named it Cape-
Lifhurne, and its. fituation is in latitude rj° 40', longituder
165° 59' Eaft.
The foregoing account of thefe iflands, in the order:
in which we explored them, not being particular enough
cither as to fituation or defoription, it may not be im-
6 proper