ANCHOR OFF KII FOUL AN. 
213 
with the good sport in the forests, made the time pass 
very agreeably ; but on the 23rd September we were 
off again, steaming along the land, which appeared 
very lovely and fertile, rising abruptly from the 
ocean, with its green hills piled gracefully together, 
presenting a mas 3 of evergreen vegetation most 
inviting to the eye. Flying fish were very numerous ; 
they appear to be a smaller species than those of 
the Atlantic, and more active and elegant in their 
motion. As they skim along the surface, they turn 
on their sides, so as to fully display their beautiful 
fins, taking a flight of more than one hundred yards, 
rising and falling in a most graceful manner. At a 
little distance they exactly resemble swallows, and 
no one who sees them can doubt that they really do 
fly, not merely descend in an oblique direction from 
the height they gain by their first spring. 
As the day advanced, we were close to Great Kii, 
and we came to anchor late in the evening off the 
village. Canoes were soon alongside, and it required 
but little persuasion to induce some of their occupants 
to come on board, where we were for some time 
enlivened with their dances. Next morning, moved 
on our way and anchored off the village of Kii 
Doulan. 
The island is long and narrow ; it appears to be 
everywhere covered with luxuriant forests, and in its 
bays and inlets the sand is of dazzling whiteness, re- 
sulting from the decomposition of the coralline lime- 
