The dress and general appearance of these people, as well as their language, was the same as that of the natives of the Mulgraves. Their canoes were also the same. We saw only three or four with sails, which were hauled upon the beach. The power of the great chief must, therefore, consist in his dominion over other islands to the northward and westward of him, where there is an almost connected chain for several hundred miles, and from which, when he undertakes an important enterprise, he must, in a great measure, draw his resources. It was probably with the object of collecting forces for the great chief, that Latuano visited so many islands during his exile from his own, and to which he was at last restored by foreign aid.
At eight in the evening, we made sail to the northward and westward, with a fresh breeze from the eastward. The weather was clear, and we stood on under easy sail all night. Early in the morning land was discovered, bearing nearly west, and soon afterwards more land was seen to the north. The last was Ibbitson's Island, and appeared to be separate from that discovered first. It is not improbable, however, that they are connected by coral reefs, that were too distant from us to be observed.
The land was all low, and had the appearance of the Mulgraves and other coral islands. At meridian, we hove to, and put off in two boats. Having passed to leeward of the island, we crossed a drowned reef, that extended as far as the eye could reach to the N.W., when we found ourselves in an inland sea, which was extensive and quite smooth. That part of the island where we landed was about five miles long, and a quarter of a mile wide. Upon the margin of the inland sea, there were a number of huts, but when we landed, not an inhabitant could be seen. The huts had evidently been but recently occupied. The island was covered abundantly with cocoa-nut and bup trees, and a few of the bread-fruit were here and there to be seen. On the shore of the inland sea the water was smooth and unruffled, and the humble but neat dwellings of the natives, scattered about amongst the cocoa forests, presented a scene of quiet and repose, peculiarly soothing to the mind, contrasted with the eternal war of breakers on the ocean side. We had not been long on shore before we found a few old people, who had concealed themselves in the bushes, and, although they were at first afraid of us, they became less timid, and increased in number, when we had presented them with some pieces of iron, and a few old buttons. In return, they gave us mats, fishing-nets, cocoa-nuts, and bup, with the last of which they filled our boat. Their dress and language was the same as at the Mulgraves, and their habitations and canoes were also the same. Amongst all these islands, the natives ascend the cocoa-nut trees, in the way I have described at the Marquesas. Here we saw several very old people, some of whom had lost all their teeth,—a circumstance we had not before remarked in any of these islands. There were also two or three cripples, who were not less remarkable, being the first we had seen. All the females were very old, and, upon inquiring the cause, they replied, that the young men had sent the young women away, for fear they would be given presents. Two or three large sail canoes came from a great distance over the inland sea, and approached us without fear. The natives told us that they had never seen white men before.
The captain landed upon a different island from myself, and the natives, having fled from their habitations as they did upon the island where I landed, he sent a few old people, that were found, commanding all the inhabitants to return to their homes, and, fearing his displeasure, in a few minutes their huts were occupied in the same manner as though the white-faced strangers had not appeared amongst them.
At five, P.M., we returned to the schooner, with our boats laden with fruit, and soon afterwards made sail, shaping our course for the Sandwich Islands. We were favoured with south easterly trades, blowing in fresh gales for a number of days, which rendered our passage materially shorter than it would probably have been otherwise. But what was still less to have been expected than a south-east trade in the northern tropic, was a strong current, that set us at the rate of thirty to forty miles a day, N.E. from the latitude of sixteen to twenty-five north. Part of the time that we experienced this strong current, the wind was blowing a double-reefed top-sail breeze from East and E.N.E., differing only from two to four points with the opposite direction of the current. When we arrived in the latitude of twenty-three degrees north, the trades left us, and the winds became variable. At meridian of December the 24th, we were, by our calculation, thirty miles from an island, said to have been discovered recently by a whaler, and which we made to bear from us E. by N. Our latitude observed was twenty-five degrees fifty-seven minutes, N. Longitude, by chronometer, one hundred and eighty-six degrees twenty-seven minutes, W. We ran off to the eastward all the following day, and at meridian, December 25th, observed, in latitude twenty-six degrees, N.; longitude one hundred and eighty-three degrees twenty minutes W., without having seen the slightest indications of land.
On Christmas day, we gave the crew a dinner of turtle, which were still fat, and very delicious. We had fed them occasionally upon bup and other vegetation, that was found upon the islands.
December the 27th, we came within the vicinity of another new discovery of a whaler, and at meridian, had it bearing, by our calculation, S.E. ten miles. We ran for it until six, P.M., December 28th, when no appearance of land being in sight, we hove about, and stood to the northward, for a newly discovered reef, which, at meridian, bore from us, by calculation N. by E., distant one hundred miles. Latitude observed, twenty-six degrees ten minutes N.; longitude, by chronometer, one hundred and seventy-six degrees fifty-one minutes, W. The reef for which we were now steering was called, by the discoverer, Clark's Reef. It was said to extend sixty miles, in a south-west and north-easterly direction, and we thought it impossible that it should escape our observation, if laid down any where near the given latitude and longitude.
At nine, P.M., December the 30th, we were within twenty-five miles of the centre of the reef, by our calculation, and as it was blowing a gale, and we were scudding before it with an unusually high sea, we hove to for the night. At three, A.M., we again made sail, and ran for the centre of the reef. At meridian, December the 31st, the centre of it was still twenty miles from us, bearing N. E. by N. From meridian to one, P.M., we steered N. by E., and then bore up, and steered east all the rest of the twenty-four hours, without seeing the reef or any indications of it. At meridian, observed, in latitude twenty-six degrees forty-seven minutes, N.; longitude, by chronometer, one hundred and seventy-two degrees eleven minutes, W.
We continued on to the eastward, with the hope of falling in with two islands and a reef, of another whaler's discovery. Our confidence in their given latitude and longitude, however, was quite destroyed by frequent disappointments, and we now looked for their discoveries, as we would have sought for lands, known only in the tradition of the natives of some unfrequented island, with the hope of finding them, but with little expectation of success. It happened with these, as with all the rest of the new discoveries we had looked for. We passed within a few miles of the latitude, and ran down from one to two degrees of longitude, without observing any thing that indicated the vicinity of land.
On the second of January, 1826, we ran off to the southward of east for Ballard's Island. During the middle of the day, the sea, from being very heavy, became comparatively smooth, and continued so for sixty miles, when the heavy swell again set in from the westward, as before.