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for the night. The tide carried us too far to leeward, but we fetched a lesser island, l2, seven miles to the north; and came to, in 17 fathoms grey sand, one mile from a beach on its north-west side, and half a mile from the reef which surrounds the island.

Early in the morning I landed with a party of the gentlemen and scrambled through a thick brush and over lumps of rock, to the highest part near the north end of the island. Hazy weather much contracted my view; but several new Cumberland Islands were visible, making up the number to fifteen, of which the greater part had not been seen by captain Cook. Amongst the bearings taken with a theodolite, were those of k and k2, which had been set from No. 4 of the Percy Isles. From these bearings and the several latitudes, I ascertained the difference of longitude made from Upper Head to the ship, to be 12′ 37″ west.

This little island l2 is of a triangular shape, and each side of it is a mile long; it is surrounded by a coral reef which, as usual, presented a beautiful piece of marine scenery. The stone which forms the basis of the island, and is scattered loosely over the surface, is a kind of porphyry; a small piece of it, applied to the theodolite, did not affect the needle, although, on moving the instrument a few yards southward, the east variation was increased 2° 23′. Not much vegetable earth was contained amongst the stones on the surface, yet the island was thickly covered with trees and brush wood, whose foliage was not devoid of luxuriance. Pines grow here, but they were more abundant, and seemingly larger, upon some other of the islands, particularly on l3, to the westward. There did not appear to be any fixed inhabitants; but proofs of the island having been visited some months before, were numerous; and upon the larger island l, there was a smoke. The time of high water coincided