158 l^ROM CONCEPTtOK BAV 



to west. When we had run along the south side, 

 at the distance of half a mile from the shore j I 

 was convinced, that it could be no other than 

 Dean's Island, as marked on Arrowsmith*s chart ; 

 the eastern point of which coincides with ours, 

 both in latitude and longitude. We sailed quickly 

 onwards, with the assistance of a fresh easterly wind, 

 but could not reach before sun-set the chain of 

 islands, which hitherto always ran in a western 

 direction. Here, also, we observed neither cocoa- 

 trees, nor traces of inhabitants ; yet it is scarcely 

 to be supposed, that so great an extent of land, 

 should be uninhabited. We tacked during the 

 night, and on the following day, resumed our sur- 

 vey at the point we left off on the evening before. 

 On the 25th of April, when we had nearly reached 

 the southernmost point of Dean's Island, and clearly 

 distinguished that the chain took a N. E. direction, 

 land was descried in the W. N. W. As Dean's 

 Island lay to the windward, I gave up the further 

 examination of it, and directed my course to the 

 land which was seen in the west, and which ap- 

 peared to me to be a new discovery. The situation 

 of Dean's Island on Arrowsmith's chart is in- 

 correct ; and, besides, it does not appear to have 

 been observed, that this island is composed of a 

 number of smaller ones, joined together by coral 

 reefs. I have so often, in my voyage, found that 

 other groups of coral islands form a circle, that I 

 am inclined to think that it is the same with these. 



