Of All
The Productions Of Nature This Country Was Adorned With, The Cocoa-Nut
Trees Were The Most Conspicuous.
The columns of smoke we saw by day, and
fires by night all over the country, led us to believe that it is well
inhabited and very fertile.
The east point of this bay, which I name Cape
Quiros, in memory of its first discoverer, is situated in latitude 14 deg. 56'
S., longitude 167 deg. 13' E. The N.W. point, which I named Cape Cumberland, in
honour of his Royal Highness the Duke, lies in the latitude of 14 deg. 38' 45"
S., longitude 166 deg. 49' 1/2 E., and is the N.W. extremity of this
archipelago; for, after doubling it, we found the coast to trend gradually
round to the S. and S.S.E.[6]
On the 28th and 29th, we had light airs and calms, so that we advanced but
little. In this time, we took every opportunity, when the horizon was
clearer than usual, to look out for more land, but none was seen. By
Quiros's track to the north, after leaving the bay above-mentioned, it
seems probable that there is none nearer than Queen Charlotte's Island,
discovered by Captain Carteret, which lies about ninety leagues N.N.W. from
Cape Cumberland, and I take to be the same with Quiros's Santa Cruz.
On the 30th, the calm was succeeded by a fresh breeze at S.S.E. which
enabled us to ply up the coast.
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