24th of September.—Last night and to-day it has blown a hard gale of wind, beginning at north north-east, and shifting to north-west, but the reefs and the land break its force, and enable us to ride in perfect security: in all probability it blew severely in the open sea. The barometer fell from 29.62, to 29.50, yesterday; in the evening it had reached 29.48, and this morning stood at 29.40. About four in the morning it began to rise rapidly, and the severity of the gale did not come on till it had risen a good deal. The thermometer both in the day and night stands at 82º, with very little variation, but the sky being constantly clouded, no observations could be made.
25th of September.—Jeeroo came on board this morning with a present of vegetables and fruit, and afterwards went on board the Alceste to join Ookooma and Jeema. They had preceded him with a present from the Chief, by whose desire they made a number of kind inquiries, and repeatedly expressed, in his name, surprise and satisfaction at our having been able to ride out the gale. They also apologized for not visiting us yesterday, which the gale had rendered impossible. It was represented in the conference to-day, that our limbs were getting quite stiff for want of exercise, and that it became absolutely necessary for us to land, on account of our health: they debated amongst themselves for some time, and then said that a final answer would be given to-morrow. They have quite forgotten their promise to send a pilot for the harbour to the northward: they wish also that we should forget it, since they change the subject whenever it is spoken of, and affect total ignorance of our meaning. The government probably think it best to keep us where we are, and therefore discourage our investigating the island any further.
Jeeroo, who begins to get quite familiar with us all, is a laughing good-humoured man, about thirty: he shakes every one cordially by the hand when he comes on board, and engages in all our amusements with great cheerfulness. He is very useful to us, because the anxiety he has to learn English makes him communicate freely the knowledge of his own language: thus there is little difficulty in fixing him over a glass of Constantia, upon which occasions he contributes largely to Mr. Clifford's vocabulary. Some of our words the Loo-chooans cannot pronounce; the letter l preceded by c appears the most difficult; they call Clifford "Criffar," and even this requires many efforts: not one of the natives has yet been able to make any thing of child; they call it shoidah, choiah, and chyad.
26th of September.—No boats have been near us to-day, and we might readily land if we chose it; but Captain Maxwell is resolved not to do so till he gets the consent of the natives.
27th of September.—As we were still prevented from going on shore, we amused ourselves by examining a reef which forms the north side of the anchorage. We found a field of coral about half a mile square, dry at low water, with the surf breaking very high on the outer edge, which lies exposed to the waves from the north. The surface of the rock is every where worn into small holes, which being left full of water as the tide goes out, are occupied by a number of beautiful blue fish. The coral is exceedingly hard, and though at many places it sticks up in sharp points, it requires a hammer of considerable weight to break it, and emits sparks like flint when struck; in a short time it entirely defaces the hammer. This extent of level space has suggested the idea of measuring a base on it in order to survey the anchorage, since there appears so little chance of our being allowed to land for this purpose on the beach.
While we were deliberating on this matter, we had a striking proof of the inconvenience to which we were likely to be exposed during this survey, by the tide rising and fairly washing us off. Notwithstanding this, we determined to commence next morning, and returned to make preparations, in high spirits at the prospect of an occupation, if not on terra firma, at least out of the ship, within whose sides we had been confined so long. On returning, we found that Captain Maxwell had arranged a party to visit the small island and reef which we were so close to on the 14th instant; the survey was therefore postponed.
Jeeroo sent us off some fresh fish to-day; some were red, and one or two blue: he came himself afterwards, and was happy to find us much gratified by his present. A formal message was sent to-day to the chiefs in attendance, stating that both ships were in want of fresh water, and that the boats must go on shore with casks to bring some off. In a short time after this message had been delivered, a number of canoes came alongside with large tubs of water; a strong proof of their alertness in getting rid of all our excuses for landing, and at the same time, it must be owned, of their readiness to supply our wants. An elderly gentleman, not a chief, visited us to-day, accompanied by his secretary. His appearance and manners being greatly in his favour, we paid him all the attention in our power. His wish was to be permitted to go all over the ship at his leisure; and in this way he examined every thing on board with far more attention than any body had done before him. His secretary, who was equally inquisitive, accompanied him in order to take notes. He employed himself for about six hours in examining the upper deck, and never quitted any thing till he understood its use. While he was thus occupied, he was attended by the sailors, who were pleased with his reverend appearance, and very readily assisted the old man in his enquiries.
It was interesting to observe, indeed, how early the gentle and engaging manners of all classes here won upon the sailors, no less than upon the officers. The natives from the first were treated with entire confidence; no watch was ever kept over them, nor were they excluded from any part of the ships; and not only was nothing stolen, but when any thing was lost, nobody even suspected for an instant, that it had been taken by them.
The old man next came down to the cabin, where he remained a long time examining the books and furniture, and occasionally engaging in conversation with Mr. Clifford, for whose Vocabulary he supplied many new words, and corrected others which had been written down erroneously. He would not accept any thing valuable, but was grateful for samples of rope, canvas, and cloth. This old gentleman renewed his examination of the brig next day; 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 at anchor, and in several trips all the party landed. Near a hut we saw about a dozen people who stood looking at 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 apprehensions 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 that 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.