old gentleman renewed his examination of the brig next
d a y ; nor was it till the third day that he completed his
survey.
28th of September.—At sunrise we set out for Reef
Island, which lies about six miles from the anchorage: we
reached it in about an hour, but as it was low water, the
coral was left almost bare for a considerable way out, and
our large boat could not get near the beach. In this dilemma
we took possession of a canoe which was a t anchor,
and in several trips all the party landed. Near a hut we
saw about a dozen people who stood looking a t us till we
landed, and then ran away, leaving their tobacco-pipes,
pouches, and various other things on the ground about the
hut, in which we found a pot of boiled sweet potatoes and
several jars of water. Having, in vain, tried to allay the
apprehension's of the natives by waving to them, to induce
them to approach us, we sat down to breakfast; which we
had hardly done, when two of them, an old man and a boy,
came to the door of our tent and prostrated themselves
before us, apparently in great alarm, for they answered incoherently,
“ ooa” (yes) to every question we asked them.
At last we raised the old man on his knees, but he would
not quit this posture till we gave him a glass of rum, which
re-assured him a little, and shortly afterwards he consented
to stand on his legs. 'Having thus gradually gained confidence,
he made signs tha t we had taken his canoe: upon
which an order was given to the coxswain to restore it. He
guessed immediately what was said, and in the joy of his
heart was proceeding to prostrate himself again, but was
stopped by our holding out buttons and some pieces of
meat and bread to him, which he received in both hands,
and touching his head each time with the presents, made
three low obeisances and retired.
On rising from breakfast we found, near the tent, about
a dozen natives, who, in most respects, resembled our
friends at Napakiang, but were not so neatly dressed; and
their hair, instead of being formed into a knot, was allowed
to fly loose. During the morning the party amused themselves
in various ways. Some took their guns and went in
search of curlews and sea-snipes: others set out to explore
the reefs; and two or three remained near the tent, for the
purpose of making observations on the sun a t noon; but as
it became cloudy about this time, the latter party failed
in their object. The rest were more successful; the sportsmen
having shot some game for din n e r; and the other
party having found all things favourable for inspecting
the reef.
The examination of a coral reef during the different