230 VOYAGE TO THE 



port then not being well known, and had part of her 

 cargo upon deck, when a violent gust of wind from 

 the land drove her from her anchors, and she struck 

 upon a rock in a small bay close to the entrance, 

 where in a short time she went to pieces. All the 

 crew escaped, and established themselves on shore as 

 well as they could, and immediately commenced build- 

 ing a vessel from the wreck of the ship, in which they 

 intended to proceed to Manilla ; but before she was 

 completed, another whaler, the Timor, arrived, and 

 carried them all way except our two visiters, who 

 remained behind at their own request. They had 

 been several months upon the island, during which 

 time they had not shaved or paid any attention to 

 their dress, and were very odd-looking beings. The 

 master, Thomas Younger, had unfortunately been 

 killed by the fall of a tree fifteen days previous to the 

 loss of the ship, and was buried in a sandy bay on the 

 eastern side of the harbour. 



We entered the port and came to an anchor in the up- 

 per part of it in eighteen fathoms, almost land-locked. 

 This harbour is situated in the larsrest island of the 

 cluster, and has its entrance conspicuously marked bv 

 a bold high promontory on the southern side, and a 

 tall quoin shaped rock on the other. It is nearly sur- 

 rounded by hills, and the plan of it upon paper sug- 

 gests the idea of its being an extinguished crater. 

 Almost every valley has a stream of water, and the 

 mountains are clothed with trees, among which the 

 areca oleracea and fan-palms are conspicuous. There 

 are several sandy bays, in which green turtle are 

 sometimes so numerous that they quite hide the co- 

 lour of the shore. The sea yields an abundance of 

 fijh ; the rocks and caverns are the resort of crayfish 



