Page:Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Volume 1 (2nd edition).djvu/228

200 S., and longitude 138° 47′ 13″ W., is three miles in length, in a W. by S. direction, and a mile and a quarter in width. Two cocoa-nut trees in the centre of the island, which, Captain Cook observed, had the appearance of flags, are still waving; and, altogether, the island preserves the appearances. described by that great navigator. The inhabitants of Lagoon Island, with whom the Blossom had some communication, were honest and friendly, forming a striking exception to the general character of the natives of Polynesia.

Thrum-cap Island, discovered and so named by Captain Cook, is of coral formation, three-quarters of a mile in length, well wooded, and steep all round; but no lagoon could be perceived. Bougainviile gave this island the name of Les Lanciers, in consequence of the men whom he saw on it being armed with long spears;—they were most probably visitors from Lagoon Island, as no inhabitants were now seen. Its latitude is 18° 30′ S., and longitude 139° 08′ W. The Blossom was off it on the afternoon of the 24th, but the surf prevented the boats landing.

Egmont Island, Captain Wallis's second discovery, is steep like moat other coral islands, and well wooded, with cocoa-nut and pandanus-trees. The men were armed in the same manner as the Lagoon Islanders; were friendly, and bartered freely for iron. It was examined on the 25th of January, but without landing.

Barrow Island, situated in latitude 20° 45′ S., and longitude 4° 07′ W. of Gambier, or 139° 03′ W. of Greenwich, was Captain Beechey's first discovery, on the 26th of January. It is a mile and three-quarters in length from north to south, and a mile and three-tenths in width; it consists of a narrow strip of land, of an oval form, not more than 200 yards wide in any part, well wooded, with three large pits under the trees, containing several tons of fresh water. It has a lagoon in its centre, which the colour of the water indicated to be of no great depth. Traces, apparently of Europeans, were observed on this island; but they were afterwards found to be the relics of the brief residence on these shores of some natives of the Chain Islands who had lost their way.

On the 2d of February the ship reached Captain Edwards' Carysfoot Island. It is a strip of coral so low that the sea washes into the lagoon in several places. Vegetation is scanty, but there are no dangers near the island. It is in latitude 20° 44′ S., and longitude 138° 22′.

The lagoon of Osnaburgh Island of Carteret, the next island visited, on the 3d of February, and which Captain Beechey proposes to call the island of Oanaburgh and Matilda, was entered by a channel sufficiently wide and deep for a vessel of the class of the Blossom. The remains of a shipwreck, supposed of the Matilda whaler, lost in 1792, were found on this island. It is fourteen