PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 201 



CHAP. 

 VII. 



Jan. 



The dialect of the people of Clermont Tonnere 

 was quite different from that of the Gambier Is- 

 landers, though, from a few words which we distin- fS 

 guished, there is no doubt of the language being 

 radically the same. According to our calculation 

 the whole population did not exceed two hundred. 



The island is ten miles in length, but very narrow, 

 particularly at the extremities, and, when seen at a 

 distance, does not appear to be half a mile wide. 

 It is of the same formation as Lord Hood's Island, 

 but more perfect. With the exception of a few 

 breaks in the southern shore, by which the sea, when 

 high, may at times communicate with the lagoon, it 

 is altogether above water. At the extremities and 

 angles the soil is more elevated than in other parts, 

 as if the influence of the sea had been more felt 

 upon them, and heaped up the coral higher. They 

 are, also, better provided with shrubs, and particu- 

 larly cocoa-nut trees, the soil resting upon the debris 

 being, I suppose, deeper. The lagoon had several 

 small islets in it, and the shores all round are steep, 

 and abound with fish, but we did not see any sharks. 



Captain Duperrey, in his voyage round the world 

 in the Coquille, visited this island, and, supposing it 

 to be a new discovery, named it Clermont Tonnere, 

 after the French minister of marine. It is evident, 

 however, from its situation agreeing very nearly 

 with that of an island discovered by the Minerva, 

 that it must be the same ; no other being found suf- 

 ficiently near to answer the description. Captain 

 Duperrey has, no doubt, been misled by the dimen- 

 sions given of the island by the Minerva ; but that 

 may be easily accounted for, by supposing the island 

 to have been seen from the Minerva lengthwise, and 

 at a distance. 



