50 deg. 1' east.
We were now obliged to steer westward again, having reefs at the distance
of two miles, from N. E. by E., to N. W. by W.; and seeing that they
extended onward, and the breeze was fresh, I hauled up for the Cumberland
Island marked _l_, the largest yet seen, with the intention of anchoring
there for the night. The tide carried us too far to leeward, but we
fetched a lesser island, _l2_, seven miles to the north; and came to, in
17 fathoms grey sand, one mile from a beach on its north-west side, and
half a mile from the reef which surrounds the island.

SATURDAY 16 OCTOBER 1802

Early in the morning I landed with a party of the gentlemen, and
scrambled through a thick brush and over lumps of rock, to the highest
part near the north end of the island. Hazy weather much contracted my
view; but several new Cumberland Islands were visible, making up the
number to fifteen, of which the greater part had not been seen by captain
Cook. Amongst the bearings taken with a theodolite, were those of 'k' and
'k2', which had been set from No. 4 of the Percy Isles.

'k', the extremes, bore S. 48 deg. 30' to 46 deg. 40' E.
'k2', S. 36 50 to 33 40 E.
Ship at anchor, dist. one mile, N. 64 0 W.

From these bearings and the several latitudes, I ascertained the
difference of longitude made from Upper Head to the ship, to be 12' 37"
west.

This little island _l2_ is of a triangular shape, and each side of it is
a mile long; it is surrounded by a coral reef which, as usual, presented
a beautiful piece of marine scenery. The stone which forms the basis of
the island, and is scattered loosely over the surface, is a kind of
porphyry; a small piece of it, applied to the theodolite, did not affect
the needle, although, on moving the instrument a few yards southward, the
east variation was increased 2 deg. 23'. Not much vegetable earth was
contained amongst the stones on the surface, yet the island was thickly
covered with trees and brush wood, whose foliage was not devoid of
luxuriance. Pines grow here, but they were more abundant, and seemingly
larger, upon some other of the islands, particularly on _l3_, to the
westward. There did not appear to be any fixed inhabitants; but proofs of
the island having been visited some months before, were numerous; and
upon the larger island _l_, there was a smoke. The time of high water
coincided with the swinging of the ship, and took pla