TYE AND SUALIB. 249 
surrounded. On her coming up, I ordered signal to be made for her 
to anchor near us, and in the afternoon we joined company. ‘The 
brig was then ordered to get under way, and follow our motions. 
In standing into Ruke-ruke Bay, in the tender, we stood too near 
the reef, and the wind heading us off, we missed stays and were 
obliged to drop anchor to avoid going on shore. With the assistance 
of the brig we hauled off, ran round Sleepy Point, and it being too 
late to proceed, anchored for the night. It was my intention to reach 
Yendua Island that night, but this mishap prevented us. 
Anganga Island is high, and very much broken; it is not inhabited, 
and offers nothing but turtles in the season. 
I now had communication with Lieutenant-Commandant Rmggold, 
and before going on with the details of the expedition upon which I 
had set out, will recount those of the operations of the Porpoise, since 
I left her at Somu-somu, five weeks previously. 
Lieutenant-Commandant Ringgold procured as pilot, in place of 
Tubou Totai, a young Feejee man of Tonga parents, named Aliko, 
quite intelligent, whom he afterwards found remarkably useful. He 
was well acquainted with the outlying reefs and islands, having fre- 
quently visited them. He was extremely good-looking, and his skin 
as light as that of the Tongese. On the 14th they left Somu-somu, 
to continue the surveys, proceeding round the south end of Vuna. 
Owing to variable and light winds, they made but little progress 
for the first few days. They then passed Vaturera, Nugatobe, and 
Ythata. The former is a high, square-topped, rugged island, with an 
extensive reef, quite desolate, and lying northwest of Chichia. 
The Nugatobe Islets are three in number, and small; the two 
westernmost are enclosed in the same reef. 
Ythata is a high island, with a bell-shaped peak, lying north of 
Vaturera; it is surrounded by an extensive reef. There are two low 
islets lying east of it, connected by a reef, in which is a small canoe- 
passage at high water. Ythata has extensive cocoa-nut groves along 
its shores: it is one of the islands that form the southern boundary 
of the Nanuku Passage. It has about twenty inhabitants. 
Lieutenant-Commandant Ringgold landed on the islets, and found 
them composed of white sand and coral. Some pandanus trees were 
seen. The centre isle is composed of black lava and stones. The 
reef extends from fifty to one hundred feet, with a break to the 
north. Here magnetic observations and chronometer sights were 
obtained. 
Kanathia, with its many verdant and fertile hills, is a remarkably 
pretty island. Its central peak is sharp and lofty, somewhat resem- 
VOL. III. 32 
