PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 197 



CHAPTER VII. 



Quit Gambier Islands— Visit Lord Hood's Island — Water-Spout— 

 Clermont Tonnere — Description of the Island and Natives, 

 Canoe, &c. — Serle Island — Whitsunday Island — Lagoon Island 

 — Thrum Cap Island — Egmont Island — Discover Barrow Island ; 

 Description of it — Carysfort Island — Discover Cockburn Island 

 — Osnaburgh Island — Find the Wreck of the Matilda — Bligh's 

 Lagoon Island — Discovery of Byam Martin Island — Meet a 

 Party of Chain Islanders there — Mystery attached to their 

 History — Take two of them on board the Ship — Gloucester 

 Island — See Bow Island. 



On the morning of the 13th of January we chap. 

 weighed from Gambier Islands, and deepened the w-y-L 

 water so much that, after quitting our anchorage, ^* 

 we could get no soundings with the hand-lines 

 until near the bar, which was plainly distinguished 

 by its colour long before we came upon it. There 

 was not less than seven fathoms where we passed, 

 and yet the sea, which rolled in heavily from the 

 S. W., all but broke, notwithstanding the wind 

 had been blowing strong in the opposite direction 

 for a week before. This effect of the prevalent 

 south-westerly gales in the high latitudes, which is 

 felt many hundred miles from the place whence it 

 proceeds, occasions a material obstacle to landing 

 upon the low islands, by rolling in upon the shore, 



