CROSS THE MERIDIAN. 61 



our Polynesian missionaries, and to admit that 

 they have done all in their power to improve the 

 natives, and to implant in their minds respect 

 and esteem for the British character. 



Leaving Tahiti on the 2nd of May, on our 

 return to England by the way of the Cape of 

 Good Hope, we steered to the N. W., until near 

 the equator, in long. 166 W. ; and then shaped 

 a westerly course between the parallels of 2 and 

 3 S. lat, with winds chiefly from N. E., and a 

 current setting to the westward at the rate of 

 one mile an hour. 



Crossing the meridian of 180', on the 22nd of 

 May, we commenced reckoning east longitude, 

 and noted the following day as the 24th of the 

 month, (thus reducing our current week to six 

 days,) in order to reconcile our time with the 

 apparent loss we should sustain of twenty-four 

 hours, upon our return to the meridian of Green- 

 wich by this, the western circuit of the globe. 



May 26, 1836. In lat. 2 30' S., long. 175 

 10' E., discovered a low and extensive island, 

 covered with trees, and surrounded by a sandy 

 beach, with moderate surf; some smoke seen 

 rising from the land, led us to believe that it 

 was inhabited. Allowing for a difference of one 

 degree in longitude, this would appear to be 



