THE FRIENDLY ISLANDS. 
183 
living here, earning a very precarious livelihood by 
supplying the whalers which happened to call with 
poultry and vegetables, but the frequency of earth- 
quakes, and a sudden eruption of the volcano, forced 
them to abandon it. At present it is understood 
that no one is living on the island. The others, 
named Curtis and Macaulay, are not more than 800 
feet above the sea, and only from one to three 
miles in extent. We dredged here with great 
success from a depth of 700 fathoms, the rich ground 
yielding some very fine sponges, pentacrinus, asterias, 
and other stalked starfish, and many varieties of 
deep-sea fish, and other things of interest. The 
weather continued of a very squally character. On 
the 17th we sounded, and somewhat unexpectedly 
came on a depth of 2850 fathoms, the deepest 
water found since leaving the Atlantic. The bottom 
was composed of red clay, without the least trace of 
carbonate of lime, which is usually found in deep 
water. At daylight on the 19th land was in sight, 
and as we proceeded, we .were soon almost sur- 
rounded with islands and small rocks, some only 
giving indication of their position by the surf break- 
ing over them : many are not more than 30 or 
40 feet above the surface, but in most cases are 
covered with dense vegetation. Eoa Island was 
passed at 11, and by noon we came to anchor off 
Tongatabu, the principal island in the Friendly 
group. 
