624 Voyage of the Novara. 



squalls* and calms, and on lOth and 20tli October we were 

 lying listlessly about 15 miles E., by chart, from Sesarga,t 

 called also He de Contrariete (9° 49' S., 162° 13' E.), con- 

 demned to inactivity to the northward of San Christoval. We 

 could now satisfy ourselves that it is quite erroneous to iden- 

 tify this island with that seen by Pedro de Ortega in 1567, 

 round in shape, and with a lofty volcano in its midst continu- 

 ally throwing up smoke and steam. lie de Contrariete , as 

 seen from the deck of our frigate, presented the appearance of 

 a long wooded ridge, averaging about 800 feet in height, 

 whereas some of the peaks of San Christoval, 3000 or 4000 feet 

 in height, presented all the configuration peculiar to a volcanic 

 island ; this was especially the case with one remarkably 

 regular cone of about 2000 feet in height, which rises quite 

 close to Cape Surville. So that Burney's theory seems the 

 most probable, that Ortega's Sesarga is no other than Mount 

 Lammot, 8000 feet high, on Guadalcanar (9° 50' S., 160'^ 20' E.). 

 At last, on 21st October, we succeeded in weathering Cape 

 Surville. Thus the Solomon's group too were what seamen 

 call " hull-down," and we might look forward to a speedy ter- 

 mination to this most tedious and unpropitious voyage. For a 

 long month we had, while to the northward of the Solomon's 

 Islands, vainly sighed for a fresh breeze, and now all at once 



* The quantity of rain that falls in these latitudes is something almost incredible. 

 One single squall from the N.W. was accompanied by a rain fall of three inches, in 

 the course ofjlce hours, whereas the entire rain fall for the year in London, for in- 

 stance, is only 18.07 inches. 



t The native name is Ulatua. 



