From The South-West Cape, The
Direction Of The Coast Is N. By W.; But The Most Advanced Land Bore From It
N.W. By N., At Which The Land Seemed To Terminate.
Continuing to follow the
direction of the coast, at noon it was two miles from us; and our latitude,
by observation, was 16 deg.
22' 30" S. This is nearly the parallel to Port
Sandwich, and our never-failing guide, the watch, shewed that we were 26'
west of it; a distance which the breadth of Mallicollo cannot exceed in
this parallel. The South-east Cape bore S. 26 deg. 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.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 385 of 461
Words from 199816 to 200337
of 239428
