Gloucejter, ftill remains undifcovered. A little to the fouth o f
cape Stephens are three Angular hills, the Mother and Daughters,
and behind them a vaft volume o f fmoke arofe, out of one
o f the numerous volcanic hills of the country. The land, like
the reft o f New Britain, was very lofty and wooded, with many
clear fpots, the iigns o f plantations, and frequent fires, the marks
o f inhabitants. The general breadth o f thefe ftreights are
about fifteen leagues * ; no bottom was found with a line of a
hundred and forty fathoms. Captain Carteret modeftly declined
giving his own name to this important difcovery, but called it
Sr. G e o r g e ’ » St. George’s channel ; the ftreights properly end at cape Sté-
C h a n n e l : ' . ^
pbens. As foon as that promontory is palled, there is one expanfe
of fea, probably quite to New Guinea, but the name o f St.
George's channel is continued along the ihores o f New Ireland,
to its weftern extremity, where it is broken into a fmaller ifle,
named by our navigator Hanover, and the extreme point, in
Lat. a” 29' fouth, Long. 148” 27' eaft, queen Charlotte's foreland;
the approach to it is through a narrow paflage, between an ifle
called Sandwich, and New Ireland. The land of Hanover ifle is
high, finely covered with trees, mixed with plantations, exhibiting
a moft beautiful landfcape.
L e n g t h or. T h e w h o l e l e n g t h o f St. George's c h a n n e l , f r o m c a p e St.
George to queen Charlotte's foreland, is three hundred miles ;
that o f New Ireland, from cape St. George to cape Biron, the
weftern extremity,is two hundred and forty miles; cape Biron
is poflibly the fame with that we fee in Dampier's map under
thé name o f cape Sohmajwar. As to the form o f New Ireland,
* Hawkfworth, iii. 596.
it is extremely narrow the whole way ; the greateft part runs
north-weft,’ but towards thé eaft end, reverts and bends like a
hook to the fouth, terminating in cape St. George.
Beyond thefe was a group o f fmall ifles Mr. Carteret.
named the Admiralty, in Lat. a” 18' fouth, Long. 146° 44' eaft.
By the views of them they appear lefs elevated than Hanover
ifle, and we may colleit, from the multitudes of canoes that
fallied out to attack our commander, that they muft be very
populous ; they were manned with people nearly black, with
woolly heads. The natives were very hoftile, and flung with N a t i v e s .
great force lances headed with flint ; they chewed betel, went
quite naked, but their bodies were ornamented with ihells, their
faces ftreaked with white, and their heads as finely powdered
with white powder as an Bnglijh beau ready for a. Bal pare.
One of their canoes, apparently the leaft, was taken, yet it mea-
fured full fifty feet in length. In it were fpecimens o f their
arts, fuch as earthen pots, in which they drefled their victuals,
and a quantity o f matting which ferved for fails and awnings ;
there were befides cocoa nuts, and other fruits unknown to our
people.
S om e of the canoes o f New Ireland were ninety feet long, c a n o e s .
formed out o f a fingle tree ; a proof o f the vigorous growth o f
timber in this country; they were manned by three and thirty
men, black and woolly headed, but they had not the thick lip or
flat nofe ; in ornaments and powdering they refembled the former
; forne had cock’s feathers in their heads, a proof that they
ftid not want poultry. They had lances by way of arms, and cordage
and filhing nets very ikilfully manufactured ; all this coun-
G g s try