transport, sailed, until he found an opening through
which he passed to the eastward, I think it highly probable that
this may be the streight; particularly as he says, "That soon
after he was clear, and stretching to the north-east, he fell in
with four islands, which he took to be part of Carteret's nine
islands*." This opening was intersected from two stations, and
the run of the ship, and was found to lie in the latitude of
5 deg. 25' south, and longitude 154 deg. 30' east.

[* See Shortland's Journal and Charts in Phillip's
Voyage, fourth Edition; and "Discoveries of the French," by M.
Fleurieu, late minister of the French Navy: a very ingenious and
able work on the discoveries of the French and Spaniards in the
South Seas.]

Whether these islands, which I have last mentioned are Captain
Carteret's nine islands, or those Lieutenant Shortland saw, I
will not be very positive; he says, they extended north-west by
west and south-east by east; the direction is nearly the same,
and the distance in that direction is fifteen leagues, and their
number nine. We did not see much more than half that distance, in
which seven only were to be seen.

Our latitude, considering that he passed round the north end,
and we the south, will agree very well; and with respect to
longitude, his was determined by the reckoning of the ship, mine
by lunar observations, and the difference is only about a
degree.

At day-light in the morning of the 19th, we saw Sir Charles
Hardy's Island, bearing north 2 deg. 00' west, five leagues
distant; and Winchelsea, (or Lord Anson's Island, as marked in
Captain Carteret's chart) south 48 deg. 00' east; this last was
certainly the point which terminated the high land
before-mentioned, for we had kept it in sight since the evening
before, and were a-breast of it at two in the morning, and were
not more than fourteen or fifteen miles from it. Its latitude
will be 5 deg. 08' south, and the longitude 154 deg. 31' east.
Sir Charles Hardy's Island is low, level, and covered with wood;
its latitude is 4 deg. 41' south, and the longitude 154 deg. 20'
east.

At noon on the 19th, we saw high land bearing from west to
west-north-west. It was very cloudy over it, so that we could not
see its extent to the northward; it was distant eight or nine
leagues: the west point of it was, no doubt, Cape Saint George,
New Ireland. At six in the afternoon of the 20th, Cape Saint
George bore north 80 deg. 00' west, five