40 
ELLICE’S AND KINGSMILL GROUP. 
The island was surveyed, and was found to be in latitude 8° 30' 45" 
S., longitude 179° 13' 30" E. There appears to be good anchorage 
within the lagoon; an abundance of wood is to be had, but it is believed 
there is no adequate supply of fresh water. 
From what was ascertained, the population was put down at two 
hundred and fifty souls. 
The vessels left Ellice’s Group the same evening, proceeded under 
easy sail, and at daylight made the Depeyster Islands, distant three 
and a half miles to the northwest. The two following days, they had 
squally weather, accompanied with heavy rains, with the wind north¬ 
ward, which obliged them to stand off from the island, as no work 
could be done. The island was thus lost sight of, but on the 17th it 
was again made from aloft, to the northward and westward. 
On the 18th, the trade-wind set in and brought fine weather; but 
exceedingly warm, the thermometer standing at 85° in the shade. 
They surveyed this island; and on the same day Tracy’s Island, 
whose native name is Oaitupu, was in sight to the eastward. The 
observations placed it in latitude 7° 28' S., and longitude 178° 43' 35" 
E, It is well covered with trees, and to all appearance as extensive 
as Depeyster Island. As the wind was directly contrary, and a strong 
current flowing to the west, Captain Hudson thought it would be a 
waste of time to attempt to reach it. 
Several canoes, with the natives of Depeyster’s Group or Island, 
came off to the ship: they used triangular sails, similar to those of the 
rest of Polynesia. The natives proved to be of the same race as those 
of Ellice’s Group; speaking the same language, and tattooed after the 
same fashion. 
In colour, however, many of them were rather darker; but few 
were above the middle size, and none of them had the manly beauty 
of the Samoans. A greater variety of fashions prevailed among them, 
w r hich exhibited itself more particularly in their hair. Some wore it 
like that of the Feejees, and the locks were frequently of a reddish 
brown, although the natural colour was black. Their skin was coarse 
and rough to the touch; in many it was disfigured after a singular 
fashion, and in some it appeared as if a scurf prevailed, resembling a 
person whose skin was peeling off from the effects of the sun ; in others, 
the stage of the disease was seen farther advanced, the scurf having 
disappeared, and left the skin marked with circular and wavy lines, 
which the natives called “ tafa.”* About a fifth part of the natives 
* A name the Samoans apply to the marks they bum on the skin for mourning. This 
was imputed to the effects of a disease somewhat allied to the ringworm, by the medical 
