1777- THE PACIFIC OCEAN* 167 



opportunity of inquiring of the inhabitants, if there 

 were any islands in a N. or a N. W. direction from 

 them ; but I did not find that they knew of any. 

 Nor did we meet with any thing that indicated the 

 vicinity of land, till we came to about the latitude of 

 8 g S., where we began to see birds, such as boobies, 

 tropic, and men-of-war birds, tern, and some other 

 sorts. At this time, our longitude was 205 E. 

 Mendana, in his first voyage in 1568 *, discovered 

 an island which he named Isla de Jesus, in latitude 

 6 45' S., and 1450 leagues from Callao, which is 200 

 E. longitude from Greenwich* We crossed this lati- 

 tude nearly a hundred leagues to the eastward of this 

 longitude, and saw there many of the above-mentioned 

 birds; which are seldom known to go very far from land. 



In the night, between the 22d and c 23d, we crossed 

 the line in the longitude of 203 15' E. Here the 

 variation of the compass was 6 80' E. nearly. 



On the 24th, about half an hour after day-break, 

 land was discovered bearing N. E. by E. J E. Upon 

 a nearer approach, it was found to be one of those 

 low islands so common in this ocean ; that is, a nar- 

 row bank of land inclosing the sea within. A few 

 cocoa-nut trees were seen in two or three places ; but 

 in general the land had a very barren appearance. 

 At noon, it extended from N. E. by E. to S* by E. 

 E., about four miles distant. The wind was at 

 E.S. E. ; so that we were under a necessity of mak- 

 ing a few boards to get up to the lee or west side, 

 where we found from forty to twenty and fourteen 

 fathoms water, over a bottom of fine sand ; the least 

 depth about half a mile from the breakers, and the 

 greatest about one mile. The meeting with sound- 

 ings determined me to anchor, with a view to try to 

 get some turtle ; for the island seemed to be a likely 

 place to meet with them, and to be without inhabit- 

 ants. Accordingly, we dropped anchor in thirty 

 fathoms ; and then a boat was dispatched to exa. 



* See Dalrymple's Collection, vol.i. b. 4-5. 

 M 4 



