2T4 RIMSKI-KORSAKOFF GROUP. 



trace of man could be discerned ; and we there- 

 fore concluded they were uninhabited, as we 

 were near enough to distinguish any object with 

 the naked eye. Favoured by a fresh breeze, we 

 sailed westward along the islands, till night- 

 fall, without reaching the end of this long 

 group. During the night we had much diffi- 

 culty in keeping our position, owing to a tole- 

 rably smart gale, which, in these unknown 

 waters, would have been attended by no incon- 

 siderable danger, but that the land lay to wind- 

 ward of us ; and were therefore well pleased 

 in the morning to find that the different land- 

 marks by which we had been guided over- 

 night, were still visible, so that we were ena- 

 bled to pursue our observations without in- 

 terruption. 



The greatest length of this group, which I 

 named, after our second lieutenant, Rimski- 

 Korsakoff, is from east-north-east to west-south- 

 west, in which direction it is, fifty-four miles 

 long. Its greatest breadtli is ten miles. As we 

 were sailing along the islands to windward of us, 

 we could plainly distinguish from the mast-head 

 those which lay at the other side of the basin. 



