E., Distant Seven Miles; And
The Most Advanced Point Of Land, For Which We Steered, Bore N.W. By N. At
Three O'clock, We Were The Length Of It, And Found The Land Continued, And
Trending More And More To The North.
We coasted it to its northern
extremity, which we did not reach till after dark, at which time we were
near enough to the shore to hear the voices of people, who were assembled
round a fire they had made on the beach.
There we sounded, and found twenty
fathoms and a bottom of sand; but, on edging off from the shore, we soon
got out of sounding, and then made a trip back to the south till the moon
got up. After this we stood again to the north, hauled round the point, and
spent the night in Bougainville's passage; being assured of our situation
before sun-set, by seeing the land, on the north side of the passage,
extending as far as N.W. 1/2 W.
The south coast of Mallicollo, from the S.E. end to the S.W. Cape, is
luxuriantly clothed with wood, and other productions of nature, from the
sea-shore to the very summits of the hills. To the N.W. of the Cape the
country is less woody, but more agreeably interspersed with lawns, some of
which appeared to be cultivated. The summits of the hills seemed barren;
and the highest lies between Port Sandwich and the S.W. Cape. Farther north
the land falls insensibly lower, and is less covered with wood. I believe
it is a very fertile island, and well inhabited; for we saw smoke by day
and fire by night, in all parts of it.[4]
Next morning at sun-rise, we found ourselves nearly in the middle of the
passage, the N.W. end of Mallicollo extending from S. 30 deg. E., to S. 58 deg. W.;
the land to the north from N. 70 deg. W. to N. 4 deg. E.; and the Isle of Lepers
bearing N. 30 deg. E., distant eleven or twelve leagues. We now made sail, and
steered N. by E., and afterwards north, along the east coast of the
northern land, with a fine breeze at S.E. We found that this coast, which
at first appeared to be continued, was composed of several low woody isles,
the most of them of small extent, except the southernmost, which, on
account of the day, I named St Bartholomew. It is six or seven leagues in
circuit, and makes the N.E. point of Bougainville's Passage. At noon the
breeze began to slacken. We were at this time between two and three miles
from the land, and observed in latitude 15 deg. 23' the Isle of Lepers bearing
from E. by N. to S., distance seven leagues; and a high bluff-head, at
which the coast we were upon seemed to terminate, N.N.W. 1/2 W., distant
ten or eleven leagues; but from the mast-head we could see land to the
east. This we judged to be an island, and it bore N. by W. 1/2 W.
As we advanced to N.N.W., along a fine coast covered with woods, we
perceived low land that extended off from the bluff-head towards the island
above mentioned, but did not seem to join it. It was my intention to have
gone through the channel, but the approach of night made me lay it aside,
and steer without the island. During the afternoon, we passed some small
isles lying under the shore; and observed some projecting points of unequal
height, but were not able to determine whether or no they were connected
with the main land. Behind them was a ridge of hills which terminated at
the bluff-head. There were cliffs, in some places of the coast, and white
patches, which we judged to be chalk. At ten o'clock, being the length of
the isle which lies off the head, we shortened sail, and spent the night in
making short boards.
At day-break on the 25th, we were on the north side of the island (which is
of a moderate height, and three leagues in circuit,) and steered west for
the bluff-head, along the low land under it. At sun-rise an elevated coast
came in sight beyond the bluff-head, extending to the north as far N.W. by
W. After doubling the head we found the land to trend south, a little
easterly, and to form a large deep bay, bounded on the west by the coast
just mentioned.
Every thing conspired to make us believe this was the Bay of St Philip and
St Jago, discovered by Quiros in 1606. To determine this point, it was
necessary to proceed farther up; for at this time we saw no end to it. The
wind being at south, we were obliged to ply, and first stretched over for
the west shore, from which we were three miles at noon, when our latitude
was 14 deg. 55' 30" S., longitude 167 deg. 3' E.; the mouth of the bay extending
from N. 64 deg. W., to S. 86 deg. E., which last direction was the bluff-head,
distant three leagues. In the afternoon the wind veering to E.S.E., we
could look up to the head of the bay; but as the breeze was faint, a N.E.
swell hurtled us over to the west shore; so that, at half past four o'clock
p.m., we were no more than two miles from it, and tacked in one hundred and
twenty fathoms water, a soft muddy bottom. The bluff-head, or east point of
the bay, bore north 53 deg. east.
We had no sooner tacked than it fell calm, and we were left to the mercy of
the swell, which continued to hurtle us towards the shore, where large
troops of people were assembled.
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