1787. This difcovery, -fufHcient alone to- render his name immortal,
S e p tem b e r . be faid to have brought him to an untimely end, as he loft
his life at Owhyhee,^ in confequence of a difpute with the natives.
*:\Thcy are fituated from 18 deg. 54 min. to 22 deg. 15 min.
North latitude* and from 154 deg. 56 min. to 160 deg. 24 min.
Weft longitude, and are eleven in number; viz. Owhyhee,
Mowee, Ranai, Morokinne, Tahoaroa, Moretoi, Whahoo, Atoui,
Oneehoura, Nehow, or Qneehow, and Tahoura. The particular
extent of each ifland I cannot'give thee, as thou mayeft know
from the tenor of my former letters that our acquaintance with
the major part of them is very fuperficial: on this head I lhall
juft obferve, that Owhyhee is the fartheft to the Southward and
Eaftward, the fouth point being in 18 deg. 54 min. North latitude
; and the Eaftermoft part 154 deg. 56 min. Weft longitude.
. -The reft trend in a direction nearly North Weft, and in the order
already mentioned; the North point of Atoui being 22"deg. 15
min. North latitude.; and the Weft part of Tahoura in 160 deg.
24 min. Weft longitude.
Mowee is fituated next to Owhyhee, and appears to be about
twenty miles long. According to Captain Cook’s account there
is a fine bay to the Eaft fide of this ifland, which we propofed
making in November laft, but were prevented by contrary winds.
Tahoaroa and Morokinne are fituated betwixt Mowee and Ranai ;
they are mere garden fpots, and I cannot fay whether they are
inhabited. Ranai is confiderably finaller than Mowee; its produce
is much the fame with that of the iflands in general. Mo-
2 retoi
* See a chart of the ifland in Cook’s laft Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, vol. iii.
retoi is the next to the Northward and Weft ward: its extent ap- ^ 7-^
pears much the fame as Mowee. 1— .— *'
Whahoo I am inclined to think is next to Owhyhee in point of
extent, it being m ore than.thirty miles long, and at leaft twenty
miles over in the broadeft part. The latitude of the bay in which ■
we anchored is 21 deg. 15 min. North.
Atoui is rather more than a degree to the North Weft of Whahoo
; it is about thirty miles long, and fifteen miles over in the
broadeft part. Oneehoura is very fmall, and is fituated between
Atoui and Oneehow; its chief produce is yams. Oneehow is.
confiderably larger, being about ten miles over. Tahoura is the
Weftermoft ifland of the groupe, and I believe is uninhabited.
Thefe iflands in general are mountainous, and fome of them
remarkably fo. Captain King * eftimates Monakaah and Monaroa,
two mountains of Owhyhee, to be confiderably higher than the
famous Picque of Teneriffe -and the high land on Mowee feems
little inferior in height to either of them. I have before obferved .
that the fummits of the two former are perpetually covered with
fnow, and yet the numerous and well cultivated plantations round
their bafe, and the exuberant foilage of the trees with, which their
fides are covered, totally deftroy every idea of Winter. Nor is
the profpeiSl of the iflands in general lefs variegated or pleafing;
the country next the fea is generally crouded with villages, which
are (haded from the fcorching heat of the fun by the Ypreading
■ branches of the cocoa, palm, clove, pepper, mulberry tree, &c.
As your eye advances farther into the country, numerous plan-
■ ... tations
* See Cook’s laft Voyage to the Pacific Ocean, vol. iii. p. 104.