The wood is of a reddish colour, and pretty hard and
heavy, but very crooked, small, and short, not exceeding six or seven feet
in height. At the S.W. corner of the island, they found another small
shrub, whose wood was white and brittle, and in some measure, as also its
leaf, resembling the ash. They also saw in several places the Otaheitean
cloth plant, but it was poor and weak, and not above two and a half feet
high at most.
They saw not an animal of any sort, and but very few birds; nor indeed any
thing which can induce ships that are not in the utmost distress, to touch
at this island.
This account of the excursion I had from Mr Pickersgill and Mr Wales, men
on whose veracity I could depend; and therefore I determined to leave the
island the next morning, since nothing was to be obtained that could make
it worth my while to stay longer; for the water which we had sent on board,
was not much better than if it had been taken up out of the sea.[6]
