PAUMOTU GROUP. 355 
loads of taro, &c, which they had been sent to gather. On our 
return, we were taken again to the chief's house, and entertained 
with cocoa-nuts, baked taro, and bread-fruit, which had been cooked 
during our absence. At the boat we found more articles for purchase 
than we had the means to pay for, or the boat could carry ; and every 
one seemed desirous of securing the sale of his fruits and 'vegetables 
Notwithstanding the over-supply, the prices were I thought rather 
enhanced than lowered, and there was an evident feeling among the 
crowd that we had not been so liberal in buying as we ought to have 
been. I was glad to get off, in order to be freed from the flies, which 
are in incredible numbers in all the inhabited islands, and a great 
nuisance. I left the island under the impression this little commu- 
nity was a happy and contented one. At about five o'clock, we joined 
the ship, some distance to the southward of the island, and all the 
surveying boats having returned, we bore away for Tahiti, at which 
island we arrived on the 10th. At 5 p. m., Lieutenant-Commandant 
Ringgold boarded us, and brought off Jim, the pilot; he reported all 
well on board the Porpoise. At sunset, we anchored in Matavai Bay. 
I hastened to ascertain the correctness of our chronometers, and the 
next day landed the instruments on Point Venus, and took' observa- 
tions. They gave for its longitude 149° 31' 13-5" W. Krusenstern 
makes it 149° 29' 17" W. 
Lieutenant-Commandant Ringgold, in the Porpoise, after parting 
company on the 1st of September, proceeded to the south side of 
Raraka, in fulfilment of his instructions. He found the whole 
southern part of it a bare reef, with the surf breaking violently over 
it. When off the south point, he made the isle of Katiu or Sacken 
to the south, and that of Makima to the east, and connected them ; 
after which he proceeded to the westward, passing Aratica (Carls- 
hoff), and thence to Nairsa or Dean's Island, which he made on the 
5th; fixed its western end, passed along its south to its western side, 
and thence to Krusenstem's Island, to the westward, which he 
circumnavigated ; from thence direct to Tahiti, anchored in Papieti 
Harbour on the 9th, and the next day proceeded to Matavai Bay, the 
place of rendezvous. 
On the 12th, the Peacock arrived, having passed to the Rurick 
Islands or Arutua, the north end of which lies in latitude 15° 15' 00" 
S., longitude 146° 51' 00" W. A landing was attempted at several 
places in the boats. One of them succeeded near a cocoa-nut grove, 
