1777- THE TACIFrC OCEAN. 13 



wooden materials of which it was composed seemed 

 to have been brought hither ready prepared, to be set 

 up occasionally, for all the planks were numbered. 

 It was divided into two small rooms ; and in the 

 inner one were, a bedstead, a table, a bench, some 

 old hats, and other trifles, of which the natives 

 seemed to be very careful, as also of the house itself, 

 which had suffered no hurt from the weather, a shed 

 having been built over it. There were scuttles all 

 around which served as air-holes ; and, perhaps, they 

 were also meant to fire from, with muskets, if ever 

 this should be found necessarv. At a little dis- 

 tance from the front stood a wooden cross, on 

 the transverse part of which was cut the following 

 inscription : 



Christus *vincit. 



And, on the perpendicular part (which confirmed our 

 conjecture, that the two ships were Spanish,) 



Carolus III. imperat. 1774. 



On the other side of the post, I preserved the me- 

 mory of the prior visits of the English, by inscrib- 

 ing. 



Georgius fortius Rex, 



Annis 176'7, 

 1769, 1773, 1774,^1777. 



The natives pointed out to us, near the foot of the 

 cross, the grave of the commodore of the two ships, 

 who had died here, while they lay in the bay the first 

 time. His name, as they pronounced it, was Oreede. 

 Whatever the intentions of the Spaniards in visiting 

 this island might be, they seemed to have taken 

 great pains to ingratiate themselves with the inha- 

 bitants, who, upon every occasion, mentioned them 

 with the strongest expressions of esteem and vene- 

 ration. 



