I'ACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 137 



CHAPTER V. 



Visit Oeno Island — Description of it — Loss of a Boat and one 

 Seaman — Narrow escape of the Crew — Crescent Island — Gambier 

 Groupe — Visited by Natives on Rafts — Discover a Passage into 

 the Lagoon — Ship enters — Interview with the Natives— Anchor 

 off two Streams of Water — Visited by the Natives — Theft — 

 Communication with them suspended — Morai — Manner of pre- 

 serving the Dead — Idols and Places of Worship. 



As soon as Adams and his party left us we spread 

 every sail in the prosecution of our voyage, and to 

 increase our distance from a climate in which we 

 had scarcely had the decks dry for sixteen days ; 

 but the winds were so light and unfavourable, that 

 on the following morning Pitcairn Island was still 

 in sight. The weather was hazy and moist, and the 

 island was overhung with dense clouds, which the 

 high lands seemed to attract, leaving no doubt with 

 us of a continuation of the weather we had experi- 

 enced while there. At night there was continued 

 lightning in this direction. Several birds of the 

 pelican tribe (pelicanus leucocephalus) settled upon 

 the masts and allowed themselves to be taken by 

 the seamen. 



About ninety miles to the northward of Pitcairn 

 Island there is a coral formation, which has been 



