^777- tables. Notwithftanding this poor foil, it is covered with
v.—v—-» trees and bullies o f the fame kind as at Wenooa-ette, though
with lefs variety; and amongft thefe are fome cocoa palms.
Upon the trees or buflies that front the fea, or even farther
in, we found a great number of men of war birds, Tropic
birds, and two forts of boobies, which, at this time, were
laying their eggs, and fo tame, that they fuffered us to take
them off with our hands. Their nefts were only- a few
flicks loofely put together ; and the Tropic birds laid their
eggs on the ground, under the trees. Thefe differ much from
the common fort, being entirely of a moft fplendid white,
flightly tinged with red, and having the two long tail-feathers
of a deep crimfon or blood colour. Of. each fort, our
people killed a conliderable number ; and, though not the
moft delicate food, they were acceptable enough to us who
had been long confined to a fait diet, and who, confe-
quently, could not but be glad of the moft indifferent variety.
We met with vaft numbers of red crabs, creeping
about, every where amongft the trees; and we caught feve-
ral fifh that had been left in holes upon the reef, when the
fea retired.
At one part of the reef, which looks into, or bounds, the
lake that is within, there was a large bed of coral, almoft
even with the furface, which afforded, perhaps, one of the
moft enchanting profpeffs, that Nature has, any where,
produced. Its bafe was fixed to the ihore, but reached fo
far in, that it could not be feen ; fo that it feemed to be fu-
fpended in the water, which deepened fo fuddenly, that, at
the diftance of a few yards, there might be feven or eight
fathoms. The fea was, at this time, quite unruffled; and
the fun, ihining bright, expofed the various forts of coral,
in the moft beautiful order; fome parts branching into the
water
water with great luxuriance; others, lying collected in *77/jround
balls, and in various other figures ; all which were 1 •-— '
greatly heightened by fpangles of the richelt colours, that
glowed from a number of large clams, which were every
where interfperfed. But the appearance of thefe was ftill
inferior "to that of the multitude of fifties, that glided gently
along, feemingly with the moft perfeCt fecurity. The colours
of the different forts were the moft beautiful that can
be imagined; the yellow, blue, red, black, &c. far exceeding
any thing that art can produce. Their various forms,
alfo, contributed to increafe the richnefs of this fubmarine
grotto, which could not be furveyed without a pleafing
tranfport, mixed, however, with regret, that a work, fo ftu-
pendoufly elegant, ftiould be concealed, in a place where
mankind could feldom have an opportunity o f rendering
the praifes juftly due to fo enchanting a fcene.
There were no traces of inhabitants having ever been
h e re ; if we except a fmall piece of a canoe that was found
upon the beach ; which, probably, may have drifted from
fome other iiland. But, what is pretty extraordinary, we
faw feveral fmall brown rats on this fpot; a circumftance,
perhaps, difficult to account for, unlefs we allow that they
were imported in the canoe of which we faw the remains.
After the boats were laden, I returned on board, Jeaving
Mr. Gore, with a party, to pafs the night on Ihore, in order
to be ready to go to work early the next morning.
That day, being the 15th, was accordingly fpent, as the Tuefday 15;
preceding one had been, in collecting, and bringing on
board, food for the cattle, confiding chiefly of palm-cab-
bage, young cocoa-nut trees, and the tender branches of
the ivharra tree. Having got a fufficient fupply of thefe,
V o l . L I f ■ b y