116 MAKE FOR OTAHEITE. 
previously ascertained that they were connected 
with the first by means of the reef. The se- 
cond and third group could also be seen from 
this point; the former to the S. E. the latter 
S. W. 
At six o'clock in the evening, we found our- 
selves near the eastern point of the third group, 
and saw from the mast-head the Greigh Islands, 
discovered by Captain Bellingshausen. We 
now steered between these two groups, in order 
to free ourselves from the Archipelago, and 
regain the open sea. Again the night was tem- 
pestuous; but a calm occurred in the course of 
it, which, had it lasted longer, would have been 
dangerous, as a strong current was carrying us 
towards the shore. The morning sun, as usual 
in the Torrid Zone, dispersed the clouds and 
restored the beautiful blue of the tropical sky. 
We soon lost sight of land, but a black cloud 
still lowered in that part of the horizon where it 
had disappeared ; a proof how powerfully these 
masses of coral attract thunder clouds. We 
now recovered the south-east wind, and favoured 
by it, took the shortest way toO Tahaiti. All 
the longitudes in the dangerous Archipelago 
