r"--

"Eight bells!" sung out the orderly at the cabin doors. The watch was
called to take their accustomed drenching, and I went below,
without-hearing the conclusion of old Greenfield's yarn.

This weather, caused probably by the Equinox, lasted until the 11th of
October, when the winds sprang from the South, blew away the wet clouds,
and carried the ship to a longitude of 128 deg. in 5 deg. North latitude, when
the breeze gradually veered to the Eastward, and we crossed the Equator.
On the morning of the 25th we discovered the easternmost Islands of the
Marquesas--passed Hood's Island, and the following day anchored in
Nukeheva--the Anna Maria bay of Mr. Gouch--Surveyor of the Daedalus, one
of Vancouver's squadron--who, in ignorance of the previous discovery by
the Spaniards under Alvaro de Mendana, had named the group after his
commander, Hergest.

CHAPTER XLVI.

The bay and harbor of Anna Maria is scooped out of the Island in shape
of a horse-shoe; hemmed in on three sides by steep mountains, whose
sharp, well-defined acclivities spring boldly from the water--dense with
foliage--where the brightest verdure closely clasps and kisses the
perpendicular faces of the lofty barriers around.

At the head of the harbor, along a white, shelly beach, are multitudes
of cocoanuts, hibiscus, and bread-fruit trees, screening within
their leafy groves thatched huts and villages of the natives. To
the right is a rocky projection, frowning with a heavy battery
of cannon; while near by are the pretty villa and grounds of the
Governor--barracks--store-houses--buildings and plantations pertaining
to the French garrison.

I viewed this scene soon after daylight, as the first rays of morning
came glancing in horizontal gleams over the eastern heights, tinging the
opposite peaks with the rich, warm glow of sunlight, peering and prying
into many a green-clad precipice and grassy dell, step by step, until it
fairly illumined the dark alcove-like bay and shores below.

The anchors had hardly struck bottom before the frigate was surrounded
by canoes, of a rough, clumsy structure, filled with natives of the most
hideous and frightful descriptions. The men were nearly naked. Many had
large, frizzled wigs of human hair, thrown down the back of the neck,
and confined to the throat by cords or wire--a style of peruke not
intended to be used, but merely as a decoration. Others had fresh green
leaves entwined around the brows, with