compass, a present to
Rokoa from the missionaries, but this had been broken, by one of our
crew being thrown violently upon it during the storm, while Barton was
consulting it. We did not get even a glimpse of the sun all that day;
nor the next, until late in the afternoon, when it cleared beautifully,
and for the first time since the loss of the compass, we were able to
distinguish north from south, and east from west. We found that we had
got completely `turned round,' as the phrase is, and were heading due
north; and we now put about, and steered in what we supposed to be the
right direction. At dawn the next day, we were surprised to find
ourselves in sight of a strange island, which none of us remembered
having seen before. A remarkable looking black rock, resembling the
hull of a large man-of-war, rose abruptly from the water about half a
mile from the shore.

"Rokoa, who had sailed a great deal among the islands east of Tahiti,
and had visited most of them, could form no conjecture in regard to the
one now in sight. Presently some of our crew began to whisper
mysteriously together, and the word was passed from one to another, that
this was no other than the ill-famed island of Angatan. I knew that an
island of that name, the subject of a thousand bug-bear stories, to
which I had often incredulously listened, was said to lie somewhere to
the north of Hao; but I had never met with any one who could give me any
definite and satisfactory information respecting it.

"According to general report, its inhabitants were cannibals, and were
in the habit of murdering and devouring all who were so unfortunate as
to be cast upon their shores, or who had the hardihood or temerity
voluntarily to land upon them. It was also said, that the island had
never been visited by white men; and, owing to the popular belief in
regard to the ferocious and warlike character of its people, it is
certain that the natives of the neighbouring groups could not, as a
general thing, be induced by any consideration to engage in a voyage
having this reputed cannibal island for its destination; voyages of this
kind having been sometimes contemplated, but never to my knowledge
actually undertaken.

"Among the other marvellous reports concerning Angatan, was one, to the
effect that its inhabitants were possessed of immense hoards of pearls
and shell, of the value of which they were utterly ignorant.

"One of our crew, a garrulous Hao-man, a