CHAP. by some extraordinarily high tide and sea, or the reef had since grown
Feb.
1826.
upward, and raised them beyond the present reach of the waves, we
conld not decide; the former is most probable; though it is evident,
if the above-mentioned remains be those of the Matilda, of which
there can be very little doubt, that a considerable alteration has taken
place in the island, as the crew of that vessel describe themselves
to have been lost on a reef o f rocks, whereas the island on which
these anchors are lying extends fourteen miles in length, and has one
of its sides covered nearly the whole of the way with high trees, which,
from the spot where the vessel was wrecked, are very conspicuous, and
could not fail to be seen by persons in the situation of her crew.
The island differs from the other coral formations before described,
in having a greater disproportion in the growth of its sides. The one
to windward is covered with tall trees as before mentioned, while that to
leeward is nearly all under water. The dry part of the chain enclosing
the lagoon is about a sixth of a mile in width, but varies considerably
in its dimensions: the broad parts are furnished with low mounds of
sand, which have been raised by the action of the waves, but are now
out of their reach, and mostly covered with vegetation. The violence
of the waves upon the shore, except at low water, forces the sea into the
lake at many points, and occasions a constant outset through the channel
to leeward.
On both sides of the chain the coral descends rapidly; on the outer
part there is from six to ten fathoms close to the breakers, the next
cast is thirty to forty, and at a little distance there is no bottom with
two hundred and fifty fathoms. On the lagoon side, there are two
ledges; the first is covered about three feet at high water: at its
edge the lead descends to three fathoms to the next ledge, which
is about forty yards in width; it then slopes to about five fathoms
at its extremity, and again descends perpendicularly to ten ; after which
there is a gradual descent to twenty fathoms, which is the general
depth of the centre of the lagoon. The lake is dotted with knolls
or columns of coral, which rise to all intermediate heights between
the bottom and the surface, and are dangerous even to boats sailing
in the lagoon with a fresh breeze, particularly in cloudy weather, as at
that time it is difficult to distinguish even those which are close to the CHAP,
surface.
Feb.
1826.
No cocoa-nut or other fruit trees have yet been planted on this
isolated shore, nor are there any vestiges of its ever having been inhabited,
excepting by the feathered tribe, a few lizards, soldier-crabs, and
occasionally by turtle. The birds, unaccustomed to molestation, were
so ignorant of their danger that we lifted them off their nests; and the
fish suffered as much by our sticks and boat-hooks, as by our fishing-
lines. The sharks, as in almost all uninhabited islands within the
tropics, were so numerous and daring, that they took the fish off our
lines as we were hauling them in, and the next minute were themselves
taken by a bait thrown over for them ; a happy thought of our fishermen,
who by that means not only recovered many of their hooks, but
got back the stolen fish in a tolerably perfect state.
In several small lakes, occasioned by the sea at times overflowing.
the land, we saw an abundance of fish of the chsetodon and spams
genus, of the same beautiful colours as those at Barrow Island, and in
one of them caught a species of gymiiothorax about two feet in length.
There were but few echini upon the reef, but an abundance of shellfish,
consisting of the area, ostrea, cardinm, turbo, helix, conns, cyprea,
voluta, harpa, haliotis, patella, &c.; also several aphroditm holuthurice
(hiche la mer) and asteria?, &c.
The position of this island differed so considerably from that of
Osnaburgh Island, discovered by Captain Carteret, that 1 beat two days
to the eastward in the parallel of 22" S. in the expectation of finding
another; but w’hen the view from the mast-head extended half a
degree beyond the longitude he had assigned to his discovery, and w'e
had not even any indication of land, I gave up further search. The
probability, therefore, is, that the island npon which we found the
wreck is the Osnaburgh of Captain Carteret; and as it is equally probable,
from what has been said, that the remains are those of the
Matilda, it will be proper henceforward to affix to it the names of both
Osnaburgh and Matilda.
A doubt might have arisen with respect to the island discovered
to the southward being Osnaburgh Island, had Captain Carteret not