SECTION X.
Progress of the Voyage, after leaving the Society Islands.—Christmas Island discovered, and Station of the Ships there.—Boats sent ashore.—Great Success in catching Turtle.—An Eclipse of the Sun observed.—Distress of two Seamen who had lost their Way.—Inscription left in a Bottle.—Account of the Island.—Its Soil.—Trees and Plants.—Birds.—Its Size.—Form.—Situation.—Anchoring Ground.
After leaving Bolabola, I steered to the northward, close-hauled, with the wind between N.E. and E., hardly ever having it to the southward of E., till after we had crossed the Line, and had got into N. latitudes. So that our course, made good, was always to the W. of N., and sometimes no better than N.W.
Though seventeen months had now elapsed since our departure from England, during which, we had not, upon the whole, been unprofitably employed, I was sensible, that with regard to the principal object of my instructions, our voyage was, at this time, only beginning; and, therefore, my attention to every circumstance that might contribute toward our safety and our ultimate success, was now to be called forth anew. With this view I had examined into the state of our provisions at the last islands; and, as soon as I had left them, and got beyond the extent of my former discoveries, I ordered a survey to be taken of all the boatswain's and carpenter's stores that were in the ships, that I might be fully informed of the quantity, state, and condition of every article; and, by that means, know how to use them to the greatest advantage.
Before I sailed from the Society Islands, I lost no opportunity of enquiring of the inhabitants, if there were any islands in a N. or N.W. direction from them; but I did not find that they knew of any. Nor did we meet with any thing that indicated the vicinity of land, till we came to about the latitude of 8° S., where we began to see birds, such as boobies, tropic, and men-of-war birds, tern, and some other sorts. At this time our longitude was 205° E. Mendana, in his first voyage in 1568,[1] discovered an island which he named Isla de Jesus, in latitude 6° 45' S., and 1450 leagues from Callao, which is 200° E. longitude from Greenwich. We crossed this latitude near a hundred leagues to the eastward of this longitude, and saw there many of the above-mentioned birds, which are seldom known to go very far from land.
In the night, between the 22d and 23d, we crossed the Line in the longitude of 203° 15' E. Here the variation of the compass was 6° 30' E. nearly.
On the 24th, about half an hour after day-break, land was discovered bearing N.E. by E. 1/2 E. Upon a nearer approach, it was found to be one of those low islands so common in this ocean, that is, a narrow bank of land inclosing the sea within. A few cocoa-nut trees were seen in two or three places; but, in general, the land had a very barren appearance. At noon, it extended from N.E. by E. to S. by E. 1/2 E., about four miles distant. The wind was at E.S.E., so that we were under a necessity of making a few boards, to get up to the lee or west side, where we found from forty to twenty and fourteen fathoms water, over a bottom of fine sand, the least depth about half a mile from, the breakers, and the greatest about one mile. The meeting with soundings determined me to anchor, with a view to try to get some turtles, for the island seemed to be a likely place to meet with them, and to be without inhabitants. Accordingly we dropped anchor in thirty fathoms; and then a boat was dispatched to examine whether it was practicable to land, of which I had some doubt, as the sea broke in a dreadful surf all along the shore. When the boat returned, the officer, whom I had entrusted with this examination, reported to me that he could see no place where a boat could land, but that there was great abundance of fish in the shoal water, without the breakers.
At day-break, the next morning, I sent two boats, one from each ship, to search more accurately for a landing-place; and, at the same time, two others to fish at a grappling near the shore. These last returned about eight o'clock, with upward of two hundred weight of fish. Encouraged by this success, they were dispatched again after breakfast; and I then went in another boat, to take a view of the coast and attempt landing, but this I found to be wholly impracticable. Toward noon, the two boats, sent on the same search, returned. The master, who was in that belonging to the Resolution, reported to me, that about a league and a half to the N., was a break in the land, and a channel into the lagoon, consequently, that there was a fit place for landing; and that he had found the same soundings off this entrance, as we had where we now lay. In consequence of this report the ships weighed anchor, and, after two or three trips, came to again in twenty fathoms water, over a bottom of fine dark sand, before a small island that lies at the entrance of the lagoon, and on each side of which there is a channel leading into it, but only fit for boats. The water in the lagoon itself is all very shallow.