TO KAMTSCHATKA. 153 



afternoon were safe on board the Rurick, where I 

 distributed the cocoa-nuts which we had brought 

 from Romanzoft' Island among those who had re- 

 mained behind. The whole crew received their 

 double rations, and the sailor who had first des- 

 cried the island, had six piasters for his reward. 

 We tacked during the whole night under few sails, 

 for we might expect more islands in this part, upon 

 which the ship might be wrecked in the dark, on 

 account of their low situation, and at day-break we 

 continued our course to the west. The latitude of 

 the middle of RomanzofTs Island, by a good me- 

 ridional observation, with three sextants, is 14° 57' 

 20'' south; longitude, according to the chrono- 

 meters, which coincide with the observation, 144° 

 28' 30" west. The variation of the magnetic needle 

 5° 3& east. 



On the 22d of April, at nine o'clock in the 

 morning, land was descried from the mast-head in 

 the N.N.W., to which we immediately steered. 

 This island, with a lake in the middle, above the 

 surface of which many large stones rise, is of the 

 same nature as the other islands ; its length from 

 N.N.E. to S.S.W. is eleven, and its breadth only 

 three miles. We doubled the north point at the 

 distance of half a mile, without perceiving any 

 traces of inhabitants, and not a single cocoa-tree. 

 At noon the south point lay east of us ; we had an 

 excellent observation, from which we found the 

 latitude of its centre to be 14° 41' south ; longi- 



