towards the island marked 2, near which the
cutter was anchored, at eight o'clock, in eleven fathoms' mud.

June 18.

At eight o'clock the following morning we got under sail, but delayed by
light winds we were, at noon, within half a league of the island, 2. As
there was no immediate appearance of a breeze I landed on a steep beach,
at the North-West end of the island, whence the latitude was observed to
be 18 degrees 50 minutes 15 seconds, and from which I obtained a useful
set of bearings. Near our landing-place were some natives' huts and two
canoes; the former appeared to have been recently occupied, and were very
snug habitations. They were of a circular shape, and very ingeniously
constructed by twigs stuck in the ground and arched over, the ends being
artfully entwined so as to give support to each other; the whole was
covered with a thatch of dried grass and reeds; they were not larger than
two people could conveniently occupy. In one of the huts, which was of a
more elliptical shape and of larger dimensions than the other, was a
bunch of hair that had been recently clipped from either the head or
beard. This proves that these operations are not done solely by fire, as
Captain Cook supposed,* but by means of a sharp-edged shell, which must
be both tedious and painful to endure; and we have often witnessed the
delight shown by the natives at the speedy effect a pair of scissors has
produced upon the beard or hair. The canoes were not longer than eight
feet and would not safely carry more than two people; the ends were
stitched together by strips of the stem of the Flagellaria indica.

(*Footnote. Hawkesworth volume 3 page 229.)

Few palm-trees were seen, but at the large islands, according to Captain
Cook's account,* they are probably abundant. A considerable quantity of
pumice-stone was found, as is usual in every place that we have landed at
within the tropic, heaped up above the highwater mark. During the
afternoon we had little wind; in the evening we passed a mile and a half
to the eastward of a low and dangerous reef which escaped Captain Cook's
observation; the only part of it that was visible above the water were
two low rocks, but as the tide ebbed the craggy heads of several smaller
ones gradually uncovered, and at low water it is probably quite dry; we
passed it in ten fathoms. It is not probable that its extent is greater
than what is exposed at low water, but from its steepness it is very
dangero