was now so
far advanced, that we determined to lay-to, in order to avoid the danger
of too near an approach to the coral reefs during the night, and
deferred our survey till the following morning. At break of day we saw
the islands which we have called the Pescadores, lying six miles to the
eastward; whilst those which had risen on our horizon the preceding
evening had wholly disappeared. We had diverged from them in the night;
but, with a brisk trade-wind, we regained the sight of them in an hour.
At eight o'clock in the morning we came within three miles of the
nearest island, and running parallel with the land, began our
examination. It was another group of coral islands connected by reefs
round a basin. Here also vegetation was luxuriant, and the cocoa-trees
rose to a towering height, but not a trace of man could be discerned;
and we therefore concluded they were uninhabited, as we were near enough
to distinguish any object with the naked eye. Favoured by a fresh
breeze, we sailed westward along the islands, till nightfall, without
reaching the end of this long group. During the night we had much
difficulty in keeping our position, owing to a tolerably smart gale,
which, in these unknown waters, would have been attended by no
inconsiderable danger, but that the land lay to windward of us; and were
therefore well pleased in the morning to find that the different
landmarks by which we had been guided overnight, were still visible, so
that we were enabled to pursue our observations without interruption.

The greatest length of this group, which I named, after our second
lieutenant, Rimski-Korsakoff, is from east-north-east to
west-south-west, in which direction it is, fifty-four miles long. Its
greatest breadth is ten miles. As we were sailing along the islands to
windward of us, we could plainly distinguish from the mast-head those
which lay at the other side of the basin.

After having terminated our observations, we pursued a southerly
course, in hopes of discovering more land, and sailed at a great rate
during the whole of the day, without seeing any thing. At night we
lay-to; but the following morning, the 9th of October, we had scarcely
spread our sails, before the man at the mast-head discovered some low
islands to the north, which we had already past, and which now lay to
windward of us. I immediately changed our course, and endeavoured to
approach them by dint of tacking, but a strong easterly current, which