8 FROM THE SANDWICH ISLANDS 



and witty. Their miserable arms, which were 

 carelessly-made lances, prove that they are no 

 warriors. Their other utensils are more elegant 

 than I have seen elsewhere, and they observed the 

 utmost cleanliness in their persons. The island 

 seems to produce but very little fruit and other 

 provisions ; at least they had nothing with them 

 except a few grains of pandanus, which they con- 

 stantly chewed. As far as we could trust the 

 casual view which we had taken of the inhabitants 

 of the KutusoPs islands, they seemed to belong to 

 the same race. 



As no breeze agitated the sea, we were enabled 

 to make very excellent observations. The S.W. 

 point of the island lav distant from us three miles 

 to the north, according to the true compass ; we 

 found the latitude of the middle of the island 

 10° 8' ^T N. ; the longitude, corrected after the 

 latest lunar distance, 189° 4' 4>&' W. I took ad- 

 vantage of the calm, and sent Lieutenant Schisch- 

 marefF, accompanied by our scientific gentlemen, 

 in two armed boats, to effect a landing if possible. 

 They returned in a few hours, without being able 

 to accomplish their object. The observations of 

 Lieutenant Schischmareff on his attempt, resemble 

 those made by D*Entre Casteaux on Vendola, one 

 of the Admiralty islands, and are as follows : 



