le without it, are some rocks and breakers. The
variation of the compass here is 14 deg. 31' E., and the tide flows at the
full and change of the moon, about six o'clock, and rises and falls
perpendicularly from five to six feet: Whether the flood comes from the
southward or the northward I have not been able to determine.

We got nothing here by traffic but a few fish, and some sweet potatoes,
except a few trifles, which we considered merely as curiosities. We saw
no four-footed animals, not the appearance of any, either tame or wild,
except dogs and rats, and these were very scarce: The people eat the
dogs, like our friends at Otaheite; and adorn their garments with the
skins, as we do ours with fur and ermine. I climbed many of the hills,
hoping to get a view of the country, but I could see nothing from the
top except higher hills, in a boundless succession. The ridges of these
hills produce little besides fern; but the sides are most luxuriantly
clothed with wood, and verdure of various kinds, with little plantations
intermixed. In the woods, we found trees of above twenty different
sorts, and carried specimens of each on board; but there was nobody
among us to whom they were not altogether unknown. The tree which we cut
for firing was somewhat like our maple, and yielded a whitish gum. We
found another sort of it of a deep yellow, which we thought might be
useful in dying. We found also one cabbage tree, which we cut down for
the cabbages. The country abounds with plants, and the woods with birds,
in an endless variety, exquisitely beautiful, and of which none of us
had the least knowledge. The soil, both of the hills and vallies, is
light and sandy, and very fit for the production of all kinds of roots;
though we saw none except sweet potatoes and yams.

SECTION XXIII.

_The Range from Tolaga to Mercury Bay, with an Account of many Incidents
that happened both on board and ashore: A Description of several Views
exhibited by the Country, and of the Heppahs, or fortified Villages of
the Inhabitants_.

On Monday the 30th, about half an hour after one o'clock, having made
sail again to the northward for about ten hours, with a light breeze, I
hauled round a small island which lay east one mile from the north-east
point of the land: From this place I found the land trend away N.W. by
W. and W.N.W. as far as I could see, this point being the eastermost
land on the whole coast. I gave it the name of East Cape, and