TYE AND SUALIB. 255 
passage between them; both are composed of a black volcanic con- 
glomerate, and the hills are covered with large boulders of lava. J 
landed at once for observations, tents being pitched for the boats’ crews. 
The next morning, Lieutenant Underwood again joined me in the Leo- 
pard, and we passed the day on shore, observing for time and latitude. 
The other officers were variously employed in surveying, and some as- 
cended the peak, and succeeded in getting a round of angles on the 
distant peaks. The day was remarkably clear. Round Island and the 
Asaua Group were also in sight. 
There is but one village and only about thirty inhabitants on these 
islands; very few of the latter are males. Gingi, the noted chief of 
Muthuata, had passed by a few months before, on his way to the Asaua 
Group. Having demanded a large quantity of provisions, yams and 
taro, which it was impossible to supply, as the hurricane of the pre- 
ceding March had destroyed all the crops, he landed and murdered all 
the men, women, and children that could be found. 
The anchorage and bays on the west side were all explored, particu- 
larly those parts that Lieutenant Emmons, from want of time, had been 
unable to effect; but they were of minor importance. The anchorage 
in the western bays is not good, as they are so much filled with coral 
patches, as to make it difficult to find a clear berth for a ship. The 
island is about twelve miles in circumference. The ebb tide was found 
setting to the southward and westward. 
Having finished the observations I designed making here, prepara- 
tions were made for an early start in the morning. The boats received 
orders to pass at once over to the Asaua Group, while the brig and 
tender ran down the reef towards Awakalo or Round Island. 
I landed on Round Island in time to secure my observations. The 
shelf on which we landed was found to be of black conglomerate, 
having had the soft sandstone washed away for fifteen or twenty feet 
above. The island is of a crescent form, both on the water-line and at 
its top, rising to the height of five hundred feet in the centre, and drop- 
ping at each end. It is, in various places, so deeply rent, as to make 
it impossible to reach its summit, which I was desirous of doing. 
There is no coral attached to it, but an extensive patch, on which there 
is anchorage, lies to the eastward; on this, however, it is not safe to 
anchor, for the ground is much broken. From the appearance of the 
water-worn strata, the island would appear to have been upheaved at 
several different times. After going round the island in my boat, I 
joined the tender, and ran over, south-southwest, for the Asaua Cluster. 
The distance was found to be ten miles by the patent log, and the pas 
sage is perfectly clear. 
