On the evening of November, the nineteenth, the welcome hail of "Land! ho!" was given, and shortly afterwards it was seen from the deck, two leagues off. It proved to be the easternmost of the Mulgraves', for which we run down on the following morning, and anchored on the lee shore, within less than a cable's length of the surf, in six fathoms water.
The island was low, of coral formation, and, in all respects, resembled Caroline, Clarence, York, Byron's, and Drummond's Islands. The inhabitants were not numerous, and differed from all we had seen before in dress and manners. They gave us a most kind and hospitable reception, freely offered whatever any of us expressed a wish for, and in all respects acquitted themselves in a manner highly satisfactory. Near our landing place we had the satisfaction to find two or three old wells of water, which, after being cleared out, would afford us a supply without much labour in getting it off, the landing being tolerably good.
On the twenty-first and twenty-second of November, we filled our water-casks, and, with several parties, explored the island. In our search we found a whaler's lance, and several pieces of old canvass; but all our efforts to obtain a knowledge, from whence they came, or of the persons who brought them, were unavailing. Some of the natives came on board, all of whom were neatly ornamented. They wore wreaths of flowers round their heads, bracelets and necklaces of beautiful shells; a large roll of leaves, from one to two inches in diameter, through slits in their ears, and as a covering for their loins, two bunches of a kind of grass, that resembled hemp, hanging below their knees, one bunch being behind, and the other before. Nothing was stolen by them. They behaved in a most orderly manner, looking round the deck inquiringly, or seated themselves, and chatted familiarly with our people, taking pains to make themselves understood. In their look and action they appeared to be lively and intelligent; but whenever the subject of our visit was pressed upon them, by pointing to the whaler's lance, they became silent, pretending to be ignorant of our meaning. The activity of our exploring parties, in traversing all parts of the island, and our close examination of every thing amongst them, that had belonged to the whites, produced a sensible alarm by the third day; and, besides the desertion of their habitations by some of them, a large canoe was missing, that had departed from the island during the night.
Beyond us, to the south and west, was a range of islets, as far as we could see from the masthead, and having thoroughly explored the island, where we were anchored, completed our watering, and made such repairs upon the vessel as were necessary, we determined to proceed further in that direction. At our anchorage here the wind several times changed from blowing off shore, which, as we had not room to ride in shore of our anchor, made it, upon such occasions, necessary to get underway, and stand off. At such times, we remarked, with particular satisfaction, the advantage we possessed in our vessel, being schooner rigged, as none but a fore and after could, with the same facility, have performed the delicate operation of getting underway, and crawling off, when riding upon a lee shore, within a few fathoms of the rocks, to have touched which would inevitably have been attended with shipwreck.
Upon the island, besides cocoa-nut, there were a few bread-fruit trees, growing in great luxuriance. The golden yellow fruit, with which the females of Nooaheeva ornamented their necks, grew here in the greatest abundance, and was eaten by the natives almost constantly, who called it bup. A species of small rat, with a tuft of hair upon the tail, was very numerous, and so tame, that hundreds of them were constantly feeding about the huts.
The first land we approached in proceeding to the southward and westward, was a narrow islet, made up of dry reefs, and verdant spots, from one to two miles long, and two hundred yards wide. On most of the islets grew cocoa-nut, and bread-fruit trees,—the invariable indication of inhabitants. They were, however, but thinly inhabited. Some of the reefs that connected them were covered with water sufficiently for the passage of a boat. The captain landed upon the eastern extremity, where he found a few people, most of whom fled at his approach, and such as remained, were so timid, that we could hardly look upon them as the countrymen and near neighbours of the natives, who had treated us with so much kindness at our anchorage.
A small canoe came off, paddled by one man, who ventured on board, and looked round for a few minutes, when he departed, without seeming to have had any other object in view than to gratify his curiosity. We should have suspected him of being a spy, had we not believed these people too simple, to adopt such an expedient of civilization. This we, however, afterwards ascertained was the capacity in which he came, having been sent by the principal chief of all the Mulgrave Group.
The schooner coasted along the islands, keeping way with the captain, who continued on to the westward, examining all parts of it. Beyond, in what we afterwards ascertained was an inland sea of great extent; several large sail canoes were discovered coming from a distant islet. The captain crossed the reef into the inland sea, where he found the water smooth, but every where filled with shoals of coral. Without indicating a wish to examine the canoes, which might have caused them to put back, he soon afterwards returned on board, and another boat was sent to continue the examination of the islet, as we advanced. The officer prevailed upon some natives, that he met with, to come near him, and one of them gave him, in return for a present, some glass beads. Upon arriving at the western extremity of the islet, the captain put off for the shore, where he found four large canoes hauled up on the beach, and those he had seen before, coming over the inland sea, just in the act of landing. As we afterwards ascertained, it was the high chief of the Mulgrave Group, with from fifty to a hundred of his chiefs and warriors, on a cruise of observation, to satisfy himself who, and what we were, and what was the object of our visit to his lonely and unfrequented isle. None of the chiefs had any thing to distinguish them, so that we knew not but that they were here upon some ordinary pursuit, otherwise, their presence would have excited in us a much more lively interest. As it was, we were gratified to have an opportunity of seeing so many of the natives, with their canoes, which we could examine, for proofs of the crew of the Globe having landed upon these islands, of which we were already pretty well satisfied from what we had seen. The fact was satisfactorily proved in a few minutes afterwards, by our discovering upon the platform of their canoes the lids of several sailors' chests. On a farther examination, pieces of cloth and ash-spars were also found. The natives were watching our every look and motion, and notwithstanding their pretended apathy and indifference, could not conceal the intense excitement that our close examination produced amongst them, It soon gave rise to an animated conversation, which was accompanied with angry looks, and the only satisfaction they gave us, when we pointed to the chest-lids, was a vacant stare, or a few words of their island language not more intelligible. Not far from the beach was a pleasant grove of cocoa-nut and bread-fruit trees, through which was scattered a number of neat little Indian huts. One of them, near the shore, was frequented by a great many of the natives, with whom our people freely mingled. It was about ten feet high, and above the ground; had a small garret, which was screened from observation by a floor of sticks, thickly interwoven with leaves. Although most of the huts had been examined by our men, it was our good or ill fortune, that this, where so many were constantly assembled, should escape observation. We should there have found one of the men, as he afterwards informed us, for whom we were so anxiously looking; but the discovery might have been attended with bloodshed, and, perhaps, fatal consequences to our shore party, than whom the natives were much more numerous.
William Lay, one of the Globe's crew, had been brought to this islet, by the chiefs, to be used as circumstances might suggest. He was concealed in the garret of the hut, and guarded by a number of old women, who were directed, the first whisper of noise that he made, to put him to death, the chiefs having also denounced their heaviest vengeance upon him, if he should, in any way, disclose the secret of his being there. He lay in this unhappy situation for several hours, listening to the interchange of opinion amongst his countrymen, from whose conversation he was informed of the character of our vessel, and the object of her cruise.
Towards sun-down, when our parties were weary with the labour of the day, they repaired on board for the night, and the natives, getting into their canoes, took their departure from the islet, and steered away, over the inland sea, until they were lost in the horizon. We stood off and on during the night, and, at nine in the morning, anchored in nine fathoms water, near our place of landing. Here there was a channel into the inland sea, having nearly water enough for the schooner, and through which we made an unsuccessful attempt to pass. Our situation was now becoming very unpleasant. It was necessary for us to have parties on shore, exploring the islands, and the remainder of the crew was quite insufficient to get the vessel underway,—an expedient indispensable, whenever the wind came on shore, as the anchorage hardly ever extended more than half a cable's length from it. That we might lose nothing from delay or want of perseverance, however, soon after we came to, an officer, with a party of eleven men, attended by a boat to take them over the drowned reefs, was sent to march round, and explore the islets, that formed a continued chain to the southward and westward of us. We felt a conviction, from the conduct of the natives, that they were unwilling to give us the intelligence we required, and that we must depend entirely upon our industry and good fortune, for any discovery we might make. In the evening we sent a boat to communicate with our party, but they had advanced so far, that she returned without seeing any of them.