Most of them are entirely clothed
with trees, amongst which are many cocoa palms, and each forms a
prospect like a beautiful garden placed in the sea. To heighten this,
the serene weather we now had contributed very much; and the whole might
supply the imagination with an idea of some fairy land realized. It
should seem, that some of them, at least, may have been formed, as we
supposed Palmerston's Island to have been; for there is one, which, as
yet, is entirely sand, and another, on which there is only one bush, or
tree.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, being the length of Kotoo, the
westernmost of the above cluster of small islands, we steered to the
north, leaving Toofoa and Kao on our larboard, keeping along the west
side of a reef of rocks, which lie to the westward of Kotoo, till we
came to their northern extremity, round which we hauled in for the
island. It was our intention to have anchored for the night; but it came
upon us before we could find a place in less than fifty-five fathoms
water; and rather than come-to in this depth, I chose to spend the night
under sail.

We had, in the afternoon, been within two leagues of Toofoa, the smoke
of which we saw several times in the day. The Friendly Islanders have
some superstitious notions about the volcano upon it, which they call
_Kollofeea_, and say it is an _Otooa_, or divinity. According to their
account, it sometimes throws up very large stones; and they compare the
_crater_ to the size of a small islet, which has never ceased smoking in
their memory; nor have they any tradition that it ever did. We sometimes
saw the smoke rising from the centre of the island, while we were at
Annamooka, though at the distance of at least ten leagues. Toofoa, we
were told, is but thinly inhabited, but the water upon it is good.

At day-break the next morning, being then not far from Kao, which is a
vast rock of a conic figure, we steered to the east, for the passage
between the islands Footooha and Hafaiva, with a gentle breeze at S.E.
About ten o'clock, Feenou came on board, and remained with us all day.
He brought with him two hogs, and a quantity of fruit; and, in the
course of the day, several canoes, from the different islands round us,
came to barter quantities of the latter article, which was very
acceptable, as our stock was nearly expended. At noon, our latitude was
19 deg. 49' 45" S., and we had made seven miles of longitude from Annamooka;
Toofoa bore N., 88 d