144 FROM CONCEPTION BAY 



atelj received them in its bosom. At last the captain 

 left the men to their fate, and brought the women to 

 Massafuero ; and is said to have afterwards made 

 many attempts to steal some of the people from 

 Easter Island. Adams had heard this story from 

 the Captain himself, which was probably the reason 

 he did not wish to mention his name : he assured me 

 that he had been to Easter Island, in 1806, but 

 was not able to land, on account of the hostile 

 behaviour of the inhabitants : he said, that the 

 ship Albatross, under the command of Captain 

 Winship, had met with the same fate in 1809. 



According to my instructions, I ought to have 

 visited Pitcairn's Island, and thence to have pro- 

 ceeded westward to 137° ; but as our voyage from 

 Cronstadt to Chili had lasted longer than was 

 calculated in our plans, I was obliged to take the 

 shortest course to Kamtschatka, in order to reach 

 Beering's Straits in time. 



April the 8th, latitude 18° 6', longitude 125° 16'. 

 We observed, to-day, several kinds of sea-fowl, 

 some of which are not accustomed to fly far 

 from land ; besides, we were in a part where I 

 might expect to make new discoveries. I con- 

 stantly had a sailor at the mast-head, to whom I 

 promised a reward for every new discovery. The 

 cry of Land ! threw us all into the most eager ex- 

 pectations ; the telescopes could not be brought 

 quick enough ; each wanted to see it first, because 



it must be something new, and I was thinking 



15 



