soled ourselves with the possibility of the instruments having been
brought from a distance by the natives, who might be absent on a
temporary visit, and several of whose canoes we fonnd in the lagoon :
the largest of these was eighteen feet in length by fifteen inches in
breadth, hollowed out of the large tree (which we at first mistook for a
banyan-tree), and furnished with outriggers similar to the canoes of
Clermont Tonnere.
This island, the north end of which is situated in latitude 20° 45'
07" S., and longitude 4° 07' 48" YY"est, of Gambier Island, I named Barrow
Island, in compliment to the Secretary of the Admiralty, whose literary
talents and zeal for the promotion of geographical science have
■ been long known to the world.
The party on shore succeeded in the course of a few hours in collecting
a tolerable supply of hard wood, very well adapted for fuel, and
some brooms, after which we beat to windward in search of Carysfort
Island; and at four o’clock in the afternoon had the satisfaction to see
land in that direction ; but, in consequence of a strong current setting to
the southward, w’C did not get near it until the afternoon of the following
day. It answered in every respect to Captain Edwards’s description of
Carysfort Island. The strip of land is so low, that the sea, in several
places, washes into the lagoon. Like all the other islands of this formation
we had visited, the weather side and the points of the island were
most wooded, but the vegetation was on the whole scanty. There is no
danger near this island. The outer part of the bank descends abruptly
as follow’s : at sixty yards from the breakers, 5 fathoms water
Eighty yards . . 13 ditto
One hundred and twenty do. 18 ditto
Two hundred yards . 24 ditto
On the edge of the bank immediately after, no bottom with 35 fathoms.
During the night we stood quietly to the southward in search of
Matilda Rocks and Osnaburgh Island. At daylight we saw large flocks
of tern, and at eleven o’clock land was reported bearing W. by S. The
barge and the ship circumnavigated this island before dark, and then
kept under easy sail during the night. I learnt from Mr. Belcher,
who had passed round the eastern side of the island, that he had found
an opening into the lagoon in that direction, and had discovered near
it two anchors lying high up on the reef.
At daylight next morning land was seen to the southward, which
on examination proved to be another small coral island, three miles and
three-quarters in length, by three in w idth: its form is nearly an oblong
with the southern side much curved. The lagoon in the centre was
deep, its boundary very low and narrow, and in places it overflowed.
Several ripplings were observed about these islands, but we passed
through them without obtaining soundings.
As soon as the plan of this island was completed, we returned to
that upon which the anchors were observed, and spent the whole day
in its examination. The lagoon was entered in the boats by a channel
suflficieiitly wide and deep for a vessel of the class of the Blossom, and
proved in every respect an excellent harbour; in entering, however,
it is necessary to look out carefully for rocks, which rise suddenly to
the surface, or within a very short distance of it.
On landing at the back of the reef, we perceived unequivocal signs
of a shipwreck—part of a vessel’s keel and fore-foot, broken casks,
a number of staves, hoops, a ship’s hatch marked VIII., some copper,
C H A F .
V I I .
lead, &c., and the beach strewed with broken iron hoops, and
in their vicinity the anchors which were discovered the preceding
day: there were also broken harpoons, lances, a small caniioii, cast
metal boilers, &c. &c., and a leaden pump which had a crown and
the date 1790 raised npon it. All the iron-work was much corroded, and
must have been a considerable time exposed to the action of the sea
and air, but it was not overgrown in the least by the coral. Two ot
these anchors weighed about a ton each; the other was a stream
anchor, and with one of the bowers, was at the break of the sea; the
other bower, together with the boiler, and all the before-mentioned
materials, were lying about two hundred yards from it. The situation
in which they were found, the size of the anchors, the harpoons, staves,
&c. and the date of the pump, render it highly probable that they
belonged to the Matilda, a whaler which was wrecked in 1792, in
the night-time, upon a reef of coral rocks, in latitude 22" S., and
longitude 138“ 34' YY". But whether they had been washed up there
Fe b .
1826.
m