266 STORY OF A LOST ARCHIPELAGO. 



this group, after its identity had become established. In IMay 1790^ 

 Lieutenant Ball,^ in the " Supply," when on his voyage to England 

 from Port Jackson via Batavia, made the eastern extremity of the 

 Solomon Islands. He sailed along the north side of the group until 

 opposite the middle of Malaita, when he headed more to the east- 

 ward and clear of the land. He correctly surmised that he was 

 sailing along the New Georgia of Shortland, but on the opposite 

 side of it: though he looked upon the islands of Santa Anna, Santa 

 Catalina, and Ulaua as his own discoveries, and he named them 

 respectively Sirius's Island, Massey's Island, and Smith's Island. In 

 December 1791, Captain Bowen of the ship " Albemarle," during 

 his voyage from Port Jackson to Bombay, sailed along the coast of 

 New Georgia, and reported that he had seen the floating wreck of 

 one of the vessels of La Pt^rouse ; but this report was discredited 

 by Captain Dillon in the narrative of his search after the missing 

 expedition. 2 In 1792, Captain Manning,^ of the Honourable East 

 India Company's Service, during his voyage from Port Jackson to 

 Batavia in the ship " Pitt," made the south coast of the Solomon 

 Group off Cape Sidney, which was the headland first sighted by 

 Lieutenant Shortland. Sailing westward, he imagined St. Christoval 

 and Guadalcanar were continuous, and he thus delineates their coasts 

 in his track-chart much as Shortland did. The Russell Islands he 

 named Macaulay's Archipelago, a name which ought to be retained 

 as a compliment to their discoverer. He then passed between 

 Rubiana and Isabel, naming the high land of the latter island 

 Keate's Mountains. Passing through the strait between Choiseul 

 and Isabel, which bears his name. Captain Manning proceeded north- 

 ward on his voyage. 



At this time, a French expedition, under Admiral Dentrecasteaux, 

 was cruising in the same part of the Pacific with the object of ascer- 

 taining the fate of La Pdrouse. Amongst the instructions embodied 

 in a " Mdmoire du Roi," which were given to the French admiral, 

 was the following one referring to the Solomon Islands : . . " Qu'il 

 s'occupe h detainer cet archipel, dont il est d'autant plus int^ressant 

 d'acquerir une connoissance parfaite, qu'on peut avec raison le re- 

 garder commc une ddcouverte des Fran(^ois, puisqu'il ^toit rest(5 

 ignord et inconnu pendant les deux sieeles qui s' dtoient dcoulds 



1 Fide " An Historical Journal," &c., by Capt. John Hunter. London, 1703 ; pp. 417-419. 

 - " Voyage in search of La Perouse's Expedition." London, 1829. 



3 " Chart of the track and discoveries of the ship 'Pitt,' Capt. Edward Manning, on the 

 western coast of the Solomon Islands in 1792." 



