e o/’ ÏSaude Miles to t/ie Three ïl a n s . 10
T o o b o x t a i I s la n d
L a t. 2 3°.aSS.
L au g . sio. 37-Z’..
fllot from the ihip, there flopped. Omai was employed, as
h e .ufually had been on fuch occafions, to u fe a ll his elo- > —
quence to prevail upon the men in them to come iiearet j
but no intreaties could induce them to truft themfelves
within our reach. T h e y kept eagerly pointing to the ihore;
with their paddles, and ca llin g to us to- go th ith e r ; and fe-
veral o f their countrymen, who flood upon the beach, held,
up fomething white, w hich w e confidered, alfo as an invitation
to land. We could ve ry well have don e'this, as there
was good'anchorage without the reef, and a break or open-
in g in it, from whence the canoes had come out, w hich had
no fu r f upon it, and where, i f there was not water for the
ihips* there was more-than- fufficient for the boats.- Rut I .
did not think, proper to rifle, lofing the. advantage. o f a. fair
w ind, for- the -fake o f examining an iiland, that-appeared to •
be o f little- confequence.- We flood in no-need o f re fre lh --
ments, i f I had-been fure o f meeting w ith them there ; and
ha vin g already been fo unexpectedly delayed in my -pro-
grefs- tO‘the-Society-Iilands, I was defifous o f avoiding every
poflibilify o f farther retardment.' For this reafon, after
m a k in g feveral unfucce fsful -attempts to induce thefe people
to come along—fide,T made fail- to the North,- and left them.-,
but not without g e ttin g from them, during- their vicinity to --
our -ihip,- the name o f their iiland, which they called Too-
bouai.
It is fituated in the latitude o f South ; and in 210
37V Eaft longitude. Its greateft extent, in an y direction, ,
exclufive o f ' the reef, is not above five or fix miles. Omthte
North Weft fide, the re ef-ap p e ar s-in detached pieces, between
which, the. fea feems to break upon the iliorc. Small
as the iiland is, there are hills in it o f a confiderable elevation.
At the foot o f the hills, is a m a r r o w border of-flat .
land,-,