238 AVOYAGETO 



>777- realized. It lliould feera, that fome of them, at leaft, may 

 V— V— "> have been formed, as we fuppofed Palmerfton's Ifland to 

 have been ; for there is one, which, as yet, is entirely fand, 

 and another, on which there is only one bufli, or ^ree. 



At four o'clock in the afternoon being the length of 

 Kotoo, the Wefternmofl of the above clufter of fmall illands, 

 we fleered to the North, leaving Toofoa and Kao on our lar- 

 board, keeping along the Weft lide of a reef of rocks, which 

 lie to the Weftwardof Kotoo, till we came to their Northern 

 extremity, round which we hauled in for the ifland. It was 

 our intention to have anchored for the night ; but it came 

 upon us beforr; we could find a place in lefs than fifty- 

 five fathoms water ; and rather than come to in this depth, 

 I chofe to fpend the night under fail. 



We had, in the afternoon, been within two leagues of 

 Toofoa, the fmoke of which we faw feveral times in the 

 day. The Friendly Iflanders have fome fuperflitious notions 

 about the volcano upon it, which they call Kolhfeea, and fay 

 it is an Otooa^ or divinity. According to their account, it 

 fometimes throws up very large ftones ; and they compare 

 the crater, to the fize of a fmall iflot, which has never ceafed 

 fmoking in their memory ; nor have they any tradition 

 that it ever did. We fometimes faw the fmoke rifing from 

 the centre of the ifland, while we were at Annamooka, 

 though at the diftance of at leail ten leagues. Toofoa, we 

 were told, is but thinly inhabited, but the water upon it 

 is good. 



Tiiurfdnyij. At day-brcak the next morning, being then not far from 

 Kao, which is a vaft rock of a conic figure, we fleered to 

 the Eaft, for the pafiage between the iflands Footooha and 

 Hafaiva, with a gentle breeze at South Eafl. About ten 

 o'clock, Feenou came on board, and remained with us all 



day. 



