PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 207 



of the bank being nearly perpendicular. This bank, chap. 

 as well as numerous islets in the lagoon, were formed ^~A- 

 of coral and dead and live tridacnae shells. The /^ 

 space between the islets was very rugged, and full 

 of deep holes. 



In the lagoon there were several kinds of bril- 

 liantly coloured fish ; on the reef, some fistularia ; 

 and in the surf a brown and black chastodon with a 

 black patch at the junction of the tail with the 

 body. Upon the land were seen a few rats and 

 lizards, a white heron, a curlew, some sandpipers, 

 and a species of columba resembling the columba 

 australis. 



In the evening we bore up for Queen Charlotte's 

 Island, another coral formation also discovered by 

 Captain Wallis, and so grown up that we could not 

 see any lagoon in its centre, as we had done in all 

 the others. Several huts and sheds similar to those 

 at Whitsunday Island occur in a bay on its northern 

 shore, but there were no inhabitants. It may be 

 remembered that when Captain Wallis visited this 

 island, the natives took to their canoes and fled to 

 the next island to the westward : whether they did 

 so on the present occasion we could not determine, 

 but in all probability we should have seen them if 

 they had. Queen Charlotte's Island afforded Cap- 

 tain Wallis a plentiful supply of cocoa-nuts, but at 

 present not a tree of that description is to be seen. 

 The shore is more steep than either Whitsunday or 

 Clermont Tonnere, and the huts more numerous. 



At two o'clock in the afternoon we quitted Queen 

 Charlotte's Island, and in two hours afterwards saw 

 Lagoon Island, which was discovered by Captain 

 Cook ; the former bearing S. 6° W. true, the latter 



