with it at sun-set;
and it proved to be a low woody island, of a circular form, and not much
above a mile in compass. We discovered no inhabitants, nor could we
distinguish any cocoa-nut trees, though we were within half a mile of
the shore. The land, however, was covered with verdure of many hues. It
lies in latitude 18 deg. 35' S. and longitude 139 deg. 48' W. and is distant
from Lagoon Island, in the direction of N. 62 W. about seven leagues. We
called it _Thrumb-Cap_. I discovered, by the appearance of the shore,
that at this place it was low water; and I had observed at Lagoon
Island, that it was either high-water, or that the sea neither ebbed nor
flowed. I infer, therefore, that a S. by E. or S. moon makes high water.

We went on with a fine trade-wind and pleasant weather; and on the 5th,
about three in the afternoon, we discovered land to the westward. It
proved to be a low island, of much greater extent than either of those
that we had seen before, being about ten or twelve leagues in compass.
Several of us remained at the mast-head the whole evening, admiring its
extraordinary figure. It was shaped exactly like a bow; the arch and
cord of which were land, and the space between them water; the cord was
a flat beach, without any signs of vegetation, having nothing upon it
but heaps of sea-weed, which lay in different ridges, as higher or lower
tides had left them. It appeared to be about three or four leagues long,
and not more than two hundred yards wide: but as a horizontal plane is
always seen in perspective, and greatly foreshortened, it is certainly
much wider than it appeared: The horns, or extremities of the bow, were
two large tufts of cocoa-nut trees; and much the greater part of the
arch was covered with trees of different height, figure, and hue; in
some parts, however, it was naked and low like the cord. Some of us
thought they discovered openings through the cord into the pool or lake,
that was included between that and the bow; but whether there were or
were not such openings is uncertain. We sailed abreast of the low beach
or bowstring, within less than a league of the shore, till sun-set, and
we then judged ourselves to be about half-way between the two horns.
Here we brought-to, and sounded, but found no bottom with one hundred
and thirty fathom; and as it is dark almost instantly after sun-set in
these latitudes, we suddenly lost sight of the land; and making sail
again, before the line was we