214 VOYAGE TO THE 



C vn P " ver ti ca l sun » anc * the s ^ greater annoyance arising 

 from the reflection of the bright white sand ; a 

 luxury which until our arrival was enjoyed only by 

 a few black and white tern, tropic and frigate birds, 

 and some soldier-crabs which had taken up their 

 abode in the vacated turbo-shells. 



Under these trees were three large pits containing 

 several tons of fresh water, and not far from them 

 some low huts similar to those described at the 

 other islands, and a tomb-stone shaped like that at 

 Whitsunday Island. We judged that the huts had 

 been long deserted, from the circumstance of the 

 tern and other aquatic birds occupying some cala- 

 bashes which were left in them. Among several 

 things found in this deserted village were part of a 

 scraper used by merchant-ships, and a large fish- 

 hook, which we preserved, without suspecting that 

 they would at a future day clear up the doubt that 

 these articles were calculated to throw upon the 

 merit of discovering this island, to which we other- 

 wise felt an indisputable claim. Our suspicions on 

 this head were also strengthened by noticing that a 

 cocoa-nut tree had been cut down with an instru- 

 ment sharper than the stone axes of the Indians. 

 We had, however, no direct proof that the island 

 had been before visited by any ship ; and we con- 

 soled ourselves with the possibility of the instru- 

 ments having been brought from a distance by the 

 natives, who might be absent on a temporary visit, 

 and several of whose canoes we found in the lagoon : 

 the largest of these was eighteen feet in length by 

 fifteen inches in breadth, hollowed out of the large 

 tree (which we at first mistook for a banyan-tree,) 

 and furnished with outriggers similar to the canoes 

 of Clermont Tonnere. 



