d has a fine, pleasant
appearance, and lies in latitude 11 deg. 10' S. longitude 163 deg. 14' E. The
latitude of Ourry's Island is 11 deg. 10' S. longitude 165 deg. 19' E. The other
islands, of which there were several, I did not particularly name.

The inhabitants of Egmont island, whose persons have been described
already, are extremely nimble, vigorous, and active, and seem to be
almost as well qualified to live in the water as upon the land, for they
were in and out of their canoes almost every minute. The canoes that
came out against us from the west end of the island, were all like that
which our people brought on board, and might probably, upon occasion,
carry about a dozen men, though three or four manage them with amazing
dexterity: We saw, however, others of a large size upon the beach, with
awnings or shades over them.

We got two of their bows, and a bundle of their arrows, from the canoe
that was taken with the wounded man; and with these weapons they do
execution at an incredible distance. One of them went through the boat's
washboard, and dangerously wounded a midshipman in the thigh. Their
arrows were pointed with flint, and we saw among them no appearance of
any metal. The country in general is woody and mountainous, with many
vallies intermixed; several small rivers flow from the interior part of
the country into the sea, and there are many harbours upon the coast.
The variation here was about 11 deg. 15' E.

SECTION V.

_Departure from Egmont Island, and Passage to Nova Britannia; with a
Description of several other Islands, and their Inhabitants._

We made sail from this island in the evening of Tuesday the 18th of
August, with a fresh trade-wind from the eastward, and a few squalls at
times. Al first we only hauled up W.N.W. for I was not without hope of
falling in with some other islands, where we might be more fortunate
than we had been at those we left, before we got the length of Nova
Britannia.

On the 20th, we discovered a small, flat, low island, and got up with it
in the evening. It lies in latitude 7 deg. 56' S. longitude 138 deg. 56' E. and
I gave it the name of _Gower's Island_. To our great mortification we
found no anchorage here, and could procure only a few cocoa-nuts from
the inhabitants, (who were much the same kind of people that we had seen
at Isle Egmont,) in exchange for nails, and such trifles as we had; they
promised, by signs, to bring us more the next day, and we k