PACIFIC AND BEERING’S STRAIT. 
51,5 
I returned to those first discovered. In running along shore we observed CHAP, 
an opening, which, appearing to afford better security than the before- 
mentioned bay, the master was sent to explore ; and returned with the j,me, 
welcome intelligence of having found a secure harbour, in which the 
ship might remain with all winds. 
, We were a little surprised, when he came back, to find two strangers 
in the boat, for we had no idea that these islands had been recently 
visited, much less that there were any residents upon them ; and we 
concluded that some unfortunate vessel had been cast away upon the 
island. They proved to be part of the crew of a whale-ship belonging 
to London, named the William. This ship, which had once belonged 
to his majesty’s service, had been anchored in the harbour in deep 
water, and in rather an exposed situation (the port then not being 
well known), and had part of her cargo upon deck, when a violent 
gust of wind from the land drove her from her anchors, and she 
struck upon a rock in a small bay close to the entrance, where in a 
short time she went to pieces. All the crew escaped, and established 
themselves on shore as well as they could, and immediately commenced 
building a vessel from the wreck of the ship, in which they intended to 
proceed to Manilla ; but before she was completed, another whaler, the 
Timor, arrived, and carried them all away except our two visiters, who 
remained behind at their own request. They had been several months 
upon the island, during which time they had not shaved or paid any 
attention to their dress, and were very odd-looking beings. The master, 
Thomas Younger, had unfortunately been killed by the fall of a tree 
fifteen days previous to the loss of the ship, and was buried in a sandy 
bay on the eastern side of the harbour. 
AVe entered the port and came to an anchor in the upper part of 
it in eighteen fathoms, almost land-locked. This harbour is situated in 
the largest island of the cluster, and has its entrance conspicuously 
marked by a bold high promontory on the southern side, and a tall 
quoin-shaped rock on the other. It is nearly surrounded by hills, and 
the plan of it upon paper suggests the idea of its being an extinguished 
crater. Almost every valley has a stream of water, and the mountains 
are clothed with trees, among which the areca oleracea and fan-palms are 
3 u 2 
