TO KAMTSCHATKA. 173 



half distant from the south point, we saw, to our 

 great joy, columns of smoke rise between the cocoa- 

 trees ; and as we sailed northward, round the N.E. 

 side of the chain, we observed a number of people 

 on the shore, who were admiring the llurick with 

 the greatest astonishment. The sailor at the mast- 

 head observed breakers, and I found a long and 

 dangerous coral reef, which was connected with 

 the islands, and stretched far into the sea. If 

 we had had the misfortune to run in the night 

 upon this reef, which is scarcely visible above 

 the surface, our destruction would have been in- 

 evitable. We now doubled the N.E. point, and 

 were soon in the high sea, and calm water, and 

 sailed up to the small island in the S.W., while, 

 though only two hundred fathoms from the reef, 

 we tried in vain to reach the bottom with our lead. 

 It was already getting dark, when we were near 

 the small island, and observed people there also. 

 We were obliged to postpone till the morning the 

 examination of this, as well as of a second group of 

 islands in the south, which was just descried from 

 the mast-head. The situation of all these islands 

 is correctly stated in our map. On the 22d of 

 May, at day-break, we continued our course to 

 the shore, but were not able to reach the point at 

 which we were yesterday, till nine o'clock, the 

 current having carried us far to the west in the 

 nighti On the island, at the north of which there 

 is a charming grove of cocoa-trees, we observed 



