17?0. ROUND THE WORLD. 189 



from S. by W. to N. 71 W. f and some small islands 

 from N. 40 W. to 54 W. Between us and the main 

 were several shoals, and some without us, besides 

 the main or outermost reef, which we could see 

 from the mast head, stretching away to the N. E. 

 At two in the afternoon, as we were steering N. W. 

 by N. we saw a large shoal right a-head, extending 

 three or four points upon each bow ; upon this we 

 hauled up N. N. E. and N. E. by N. to get round 

 the north point of it, which we reached by four, and 

 then edged away to the westward, and ran between 

 the north end of this shoal and another which lies 

 two miles to the northward of it, having a boat all 

 the way a-head sounding ; our depth of water was 

 still very irregular, from twenty-two to eight fathom. 

 At half an hour after six, we anchored in thirteen 

 fathom : the northernmost of the small islands seen 

 at noon bore W. S., distant three miles : these 

 islands are distinguished in the chart by the name 

 of Forbes's Islands, and lie about five leagues from 

 the main, which here forms a high point that we 

 called Bolt Head, from which the land trends 

 more westerly, and is in that direction all low and 

 sandy ; to the southward it is high and hilly, even 

 near the sea. 



At six in the morning we got again under sail, 

 and steered for an island which lay at a small dis- 

 tance from the main, and at this time bore from us N. 

 40 W., distant about five leagues: our course was soon 

 interrupted by shoals ; however, by the help of the 

 boats, and a good look-out from the top of the mast, 

 we got into a fair channel that led us down to the 

 island, between a very large shoal on our starboard 

 side, and several small ones towards the main : in 

 this channel we had from twenty to thirty fathom 

 water. Between eleven and twelve o'clock we 

 hauled round the north-east side of the island, leav- 

 ing it between us and the main, from which it is 

 distant about seven or eight miles. This island is 



