Nov.T ANOTHER DISCOVERY. 463 



emitted smoke from their craters. These islands lie from six to thir- 

 teen leagues to the north of the nearest part of the coast of New- 

 Guinea. We saw one volcano on a mountain in the interior of that 

 island, which also cast out flames and pumice-stone. 



November 14M. — On Sunday, the 14th, at two, P. M., we were close 

 in with a projecting point of land, which runs out from the main island 

 to the north. This cape is situated in lat. 3° 1 1' S., long. 142° 39' E. ; 

 and I have given it the name of Cape Woodbury, in honour of Levi 

 Woodbury, Esq., secretary of the navy of the United States ; a gen- 

 tleman whose talents, patriotism, and private virtues are too well known 

 to require my feeble eulogium. 



Four or five miles to the westward of Cape Woodbury is a fine and 

 spacious harbour, running in to the south-west, the entrance of which 

 is very narrow, being fronted by coral reefs, which prevent any surge 

 from the seaboard entering the haven. There is a sufficient depth of 

 Water between the reefs ; but on account of the narrow windings, it 

 will always be best to warp in, when you will be completely sheltered 

 from all winds. This harbour we shall call by the same name with 

 which we have distinguished the cape, that is in sight to the eastward of it. 



We are now approaching a period of this eventful voyage, in the 

 narrative of which I shall, for reasons which must be obvious to every 

 reader, suppress dates, courses, distances, bearings, and locations. 

 Let it therefore suffice, that on leaving the coast of New-Guinea, we 

 steered to the northward and eastward for a few days, and then changed 

 our course in another direction. 



During this cruise, we one day, at two, P. M., were close in with 

 a group of islands, to which at present I shall give no name. They 

 are not laid down in any chart, nor mentioned in any epitome of navi- 

 gation. The group comprises about twenty islands, most of them 

 thickly inhabited, all very low, and entirely surrounded by a coral reef 

 of about seventy-five miles in circumference. Should a ship fall in 

 with this group in the night, she would be close upon the breakers 

 before her mariners could see land ; and if not fully acquainted with 

 their danger, they might attempt to pass over those parts on which 

 the surf breaks with the least violence, in which case the ship would 

 inevitably be lost. The coral reef which surrounds these islands 

 varies in width, from half a mile to two miles, and has from two to six or 

 eight feet of water all over it at low tide ; and its whole surface is lit- 

 erally covered with biche-de-mer, of a very superior quality. 



The lagoon within the reef, to which there are only two passages, 

 has a depth of from two to fifteen fathoms of water all over it, with a 

 coral bottom covered with many cargoes of pearl-oysters, equal in 

 quality to those of the Sooloo sea. The hawWs-bill tortoise are also 

 very plenty within the reef At the proper season of the year, 

 the numerous sand-spits in the lagoon are almost covered with 

 them, where they come to deposite their eggs, and then return to the 

 sea. In a few days afterward, they again come up on the land, 

 for the purpose of perpetuating their species. From this period they 

 are continually coming and going on and off the sand-spits, until their 

 young ones have come forth, and are capable of taking care of them- 



