PAUMOTU GROUP. £ 27 
instruments safely on shore, that I found it too late to make the 
observations I desired. 
The natives whom we saw, appeared a fine athletic race, much 
above the ordinary size. Their colour was darker than that of our 
Indians, but their features resembled them. No tattooing was ob- 
served on the men, and the women were not seen close enough to 
distinguish them^ The hair of the former was long, black, and 
straight, The chiefs had theirs drawn back, and tied in a knot 
behind. The others had theirs hanging loose. They wore a small 
maro made of leaves, and the chiefs a Pandanus leaf around their 
necks, probably to distinguish their rank. The women wore a piece 
of tapa as a petticoat; they were not oiled, and some of their heads 
seemed filled with ashes or lime. They spoke and understood the 
rahitian dialect, The only information obtained from them was, that 
vessels had before been there, but had gone away without landing 
Immediately on their being driven from the beach, a large column 
of smoke was seen, no donbt a signal to the other inhabitants of the 
island. After being on the reef half an hour, we joined our boats, and 
returned on board near sunset. One canoe was reported, the next 
morning, as having been seen from the Peacock. 
The number of inhabitants that we saw certainly did not exceed 
one hundred and twenty. 
The common house-fly was found in great numbers at this island. 
A number offish were caught; some shells, and specimens of most of 
the plants were also procured. 
After lying to for the night, we, at daylight on the 16th, bore away 
for Serle Island, having first ascertained our distance from the point 
of Clermont de Tonnerre by triangulation. We then ran by the 
patent log for Serle Island, direct, by which means we made the 
distance between the two islands, twenty-six miles and two-tenths. 
No signs of any other island exist between these two. This will, I 
think, settle the question between Duperrey and Beechey. The latter 
is undoubtedly wrong as respects the longitude of Clermont de Ton- 
nerre, which he places some twenty minutes too far to the eastward, 
and I doubt not some accidental error has occurred in his observa- 
tions; for I find, at Serle Island, Duperrey, Beechey, and myself, 
agree within a few minutes. 
Serle is a low coral island, and has a large and very regular clump 
of trees on its western end, which at a distance might be taken for a 
mound or hill. Its length is seven miles, and its width one and a 
