oint which included the bay to the north-west, the
country lost something of its exuberant fertility, and was
interspersed with barren spots, though we saw smokes and habitations
on the highest ridges: And at night the mountains were illuminated in
different places, by several lines of fire, some of which appeared to
extend at least half-a-mile in length. The land, which forms the north
side of Bougainville's passage, appeared very extensive, high and
mountainous, and a number of small islands lay along its southern
coast, which were of a very moderate height, and covered with the
finest forests. The continual fair weather which attended this part of
our navigation, made all these beautiful landscapes appear to the
greatest advantage; and the pleasure of contemplating a great variety
of rich sceneries, made us some amends for the wretchedness of our
diet, which at present consisted of no other than the ship's
provisions."--G.F.

[5] Mr G.F. says some of them had bunches of feathers on their heads,
others a white shell tied on the forehead, and one a sago leaf rolled
round his head forming a kind of cap. They came near enough to the
vessel to receive presents, and shewed a peculiar partiality for
nails, which implied some acquaintance with their value and use. It
was impossible to hold conversation with them by any known language,
but it would seem, that their numerals bore strong resemblance to
those of the Friendly Islands, or were indeed the same. There is
reason to think then, as Captain Cook afterwards notices, that these
are the same sort of people, if not the same individuals, that were
seen on the following day.--E.

[6] "Quiros had great reason to extol the beauty and fertility of this
country; it is indeed, to appearance, one of the finest in the world.
Its riches in vegetable productions would doubtless have afforded the
botanist an ample harvest of new plants, as, next to New Zealand, it
was the largest island we had hitherto seen, and had the advantage of
having never been examined by other naturalists. But the study of
nature was only the secondary object in this voyage, which, contrary
to its original intent, was so contrived in the execution as to
produce little more than a new track on the chart of the southern
hemisphere. We were therefore obliged to look upon those