ons to take care of him.

These islanders seemed a very civil people, yet we did not venture to
allow too many of them to come on board at once. When they first came
near us, they tied two sticks together in form of a cross, which they
held up, as we supposed, to signify to us that they had some knowledge
of Christianity; whereupon we shewed them a crucifix, we had taken from
the Spaniards, at the sight of which they all bowed their bodies, and
came on board. This island of Magon, as I reckoned, is in lat. 15 deg. N.
and we made its longitude by computation, 120 deg. 9' W. from _St Miguel_,
or 7029 English miles, allowing 58-1/2 miles to the degree of longitude
in this parallel.[210]

[Footnote 210: From the sequel, this island of Magon appears almost
certainly to have been one of the Ladrones, perhaps to the N.E. of Guam,
now named Rota. Point Candadillo, near San Miguel, the N.W. cape of the
Gulf of Amapalla, is in long. 87 deg. 58' W. and the Ladrones are in long.
216 deg. W. from Greenwich, so that the difference, or run across the
Pacific, is 128 deg. 2', which, at 58-1/2 miles, extend to 7590 miles,
besides the allowance for difference of latitude.--E.]

On mature deliberation, we resolved to proceed directly from this place
to New Guinea, without putting in at the island of Guam, which was in
sight. The weather continued fair, and the wind brisk and favourable,
till we came into the latitude of 4 deg. N. when we had a calm for seven
days, during which time we had no means of relieving our hunger, except
by taking large draughts of water, and then lying down to sleep. On the
3d May we had a fine gale, which continued till the 5th, and then died
quite away before we got sight of land; but about ten that night we were
all sensible of a very odoriferous smell, whence we concluded that we
were near land, on which we examined our charts, but found none laid
down. Next morning, however, we saw land at no great distance. This day
also we caught two bonetoes, which were most welcome, as they made a
hearty meal to our whole company. This fish is commonly about three feet
long and two in circumference, having a very sharp head, with a small
mouth, full eyes, and a semilunar tail. It is very fleshy, and makes
good broth. About noon we were in sight of three small islands, all low
land, but very green and pleasant, especially to us, who had been so
long of seeing any land. We had this day an observation of the sun, by
which