274 RIMSKI-KORSAKOFF GROUP. 



trace of man could be discerned ; and we there 

 fore concluded they were uninhabited, as we 

 were near enough to distinguish any object with 

 the naked eye. Favoured by a fresh breeze, we 

 sailed westward along the islands, till night 

 fall, without reaching the end of this long 

 group. During the night we had much diffi 

 culty in keeping our position, owing to a tole 

 rably smart gale, which, in these unknown 

 waters, would have been attended by no incon 

 siderable danger, but that the land lay to wind 

 ward of us ; and were therefore well pleased 

 in the morning to find that the different land 

 marks by which we had been guided over 

 night, were still visible, so that we were ena 

 bled to pursue our observations without in 

 terruption. 



The greatest length of this group, which I 

 named, after our second lieutenant, Rimski- 

 Korsakoff, is from east-north-east to west-south 

 west, in which direction it is, fifty-four miles 

 long. Its greatest breadth is ten miles. As we 

 were sailing along the islands to windward of us, 

 we could plainly distinguish from the mast-head 

 those which lay at the other side of the basin. 



