Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/86

 day George Reynolds, ordinary seaman, died on board the brig Porpoise. Our chaplain went on board in the afternoon and performed the burial service.

On the 24th we made the nor’west end of Wytoohee, which island lies in latitude 14° south. The natives seemed greatly astonished to see us, and after rubbing  noses with us — their mode of salutation — they would  lay their hands on us to satisfy themselves that we were  really human. The younger ones were the first to show any freedom, and were disposed to joke with us. While on shore we inquired for their huts. They seemed to be taken all aback. When we had made them understand that they had nothing to fear, they led the  way through the bushes of palms to an open space surrounded by cocoanut and pandanus trees. This was their village. On looking into their huts and seeing no one, we inquired for their women and children, when  they burst out in great laughter and gave us to understand that they lived on an island where there were  none. Their huts are so small they hardly deserve the name. They are six to eight feet long, four feet high, and five feet wide.

We discovered, on the 28th, an island not laid down on any chart. It was named King’s Island, for the man at the mast-head who first discovered it. It was only six feet above the level of the sea. It was a lagoon island, and was eight miles long. After surveying it we bore away for Raraka, and made it soon after. As we neared it another island was discovered to the northward, which was named for our ship, Vincennes. After visiting Dean’s Island, Aratica, and Waterlandt, and