We found this place to be the western extremity of the island on the north side, and that it lay in exactly the same latitude as the eastern extremity on the same side. The distance between them is about fifty miles due east and west, and a strong current sets westward along the shore.
I was still confined to my bed, and it was with infinite regret that I gave up the hopes of obtaining refreshments at this place, especially as our people told me they saw hogs and poultry in great plenty as we sailed along the shore, with cocoa-nut trees, plantains, bananas, and a variety of other vegetable productions, which would soon have restored to us the health and vigour we had lost, by the fatigue and hardships of a long voyage; but no friendly intercourse with the natives could now be expected, and I was not in a situation to obtain what I wanted by force. I was myself dangerously ill, great part of my crew, as I have already observed, was disabled, and the rest dispirited by disappointment and vexation, and if the men had been all in health and spirits, I had not officers to lead them on or direct them in any enterprise, nor even to superintend the duties that were to be performed on board the ship. These disadvantages, which prevented my obtaining refreshments at this island, prevented me also from examining the rest that were near it. Our little strength was every minute becoming less; I was not in a condition to pursue the voyage to the southward, and was in danger of losing the monsoon, so that no time was now to be lost; I therefore gave orders to steer northward, hoping to refresh at the country which Dampier has called Nora Britannia. I shall, however, give the best account I can of the appearance and situation of the islands that I left behind me.
I gave the general name of Queen Charlotte's Islands to the whole cluster, as well to those I did not see distinctly, as to those that I did; and I gave several of them particular names as I approached them.
To the southermost of the two, which when we first discovered land were right a-head, I gave the name of Lord Howe's Island, and the other was Egmont Island, of which some account has already been given. The latitude of Lord Howe's Island is 11° 10' S. longitude 164° 43' E. The latitude of Cape Byron, the north-east point of Egmont Island, is 10° 40' S. longitude 164° 49' E. The east sides of these two islands, which lie exactly in a line with each other, about N. by W. and S. by E. including the passage between them, extend about eleven leagues, and the passage is about four miles broad; both of them appear to be fertile, and have a pleasant appearance, being covered with tall trees, of a beautiful verdure. Lord Howe's Island, though more flat and even than the other, is notwithstanding high land. About thirteen leagues W.N.W. 1/2 N. by compass, from Cape Byron, there is an island of a stupendous height, and a conical figure. The top of it is shaped like a funnel, from which we saw smoke issue, though no flame; it is, however, certainly a volcano, and therefore I called it Volcano Island. To a long flat island that, when Howe's and Egmont's islands were right a-head, bore N.W. I gave the name of Keppel's Island. It lies in latitude 10° 15' S. longitude, by account, 165° 4' E. The largest of two others to the S.E. I called Lord Edgcumb's Island. The small one I called Ourry's Island. Edgcumb's Island has a fine, pleasant appearance, and lies in latitude 11° 10' S. longitude 163° 14' E. The latitude of Ourry's Island is 11° 10' S. longitude 165° 19' E. The other islands, of which there were several, I did not particularly name.
The inhabitants of Egmont island, whose persons have been described already, are extremely nimble, vigorous, and active, and seem to be almost as well qualified to live in the water as upon the land, for they were in and out of their canoes almost every minute. The canoes that came out against us from the west end of the island, were all like that which our people brought on board, and might probably, upon occasion, carry about a dozen men, though three or four manage them with amazing dexterity: We saw, however, others of a large size upon the beach, with awnings or shades over them.
We got two of their bows, and a bundle of their arrows, from the canoe that was taken with the wounded man; and with these weapons they do execution at an incredible distance. One of them went through the boat's washboard, and dangerously wounded a midshipman in the thigh. Their arrows were pointed with flint, and we saw among them no appearance of any metal. The country in general is woody and mountainous, with many vallies intermixed; several small rivers flow from the interior part of the country into the sea, and there are many harbours upon the coast. The variation here was about 11° 15' E.
SECTION V.
Departure from Egmont Island, and Passage to Nova Britannia; with a Description of several other Islands, and their Inhabitants. We made sail from this island in the evening of Tuesday the 18th of August, with a fresh trade-wind from the eastward, and a few squalls at times. Al first we only hauled up W.N.W. for I was not without hope of falling in with some other islands, where we might be more fortunate than we had been at those we left, before we got the length of Nova Britannia.
On the 20th, we discovered a small, flat, low island, and got up with it in the evening. It lies in latitude 7° 56' S. longitude 138° 56' E. and I gave it the name of Gower's Island. To our great mortification we found no anchorage here, and could procure only a few cocoa-nuts from the inhabitants, (who were much the same kind of people that we had seen at Isle Egmont,) in exchange for nails, and such trifles as we had; they promised, by signs, to bring us more the next day, and we kept off and on all night. The night was extremely dark; and the next morning at day-break, we found that a current had set us considerably to the southward of the island, and brought us within sight of two more. They were situated nearly east and west of each other, and were distant about two miles. That to the eastward is much the smallest, and this we called Simpson's Island; to the other, which is lofty, and has a stately appearance, we gave the name of Carteret's Island. The east end of it bears about south from Gower's island, and the distance between them is about ten or eleven leagues. Carteret's Island lies in about the latitude of 8° 26' S. longitude 159° 14' E. and its length from east to west is about six leagues. We found the variation here 8° 30' E. Both these islands were right to windward of us, and we bore down to Gower's Island. It is about two leagues and a half long on the western side, which makes in bays: The whole is well wooded, and many of the trees are cocoa-nut. We found here a considerable number of the Indians, with two boats or canoes, which we supposed to belong to Carteret's Island, and to have brought the people hither only to fish. We sent the boat on shore, which the natives endeavoured to cut off; and hostilities being thus commenced, we seized their canoe, in which we found about an hundred cocoa-nuts, which were very acceptable. We saw some turtle near the beach, but were not fortunate enough to take any of them. The canoe, or boat, was large enough to carry eight or ten men, and was very neatly built, with planks well jointed; it was adorned with shell-work, and figures rudely painted, and the seams were covered with a substance somewhat like our black putty, but it appeared to me to be of a better consistence. The people were armed with bows, arrows, and spears; the spears and arrows were pointed with flint. By some signs which they made, pointing to our muskets, we imagined they were not wholly unacquainted with fire-arms. They are much the same kind of people as we had seen at Egmont island, and, like them, were quite naked; but their canoes were of a very different structure, and a much larger size, though we did not discover that any of them had sails. The cocoa-nuts which we got here, and at Egmont island, were of infinite advantage to the sick.
From the time of our leaving Egmont island, we had observed a current setting strongly to the southward, and in the neighbourhood of these islands we found its force greatly increased: This determined me, when I sailed from Gower's island, to steer N.W. fearing we might otherwise fall in with the main land too far to the southward; for if we had got into any gulph or deep bay, our crew was so sickly, and our ship so bad, that it would have been impossible for us to have got out again.