158 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, soled ourselves with the possibility of the instruments having been 
brought from a distance by the natives, who might be absent on a 
•Jan. temporary visit, and several of whose canoes we found in the lagoon : 
the largest of these was eighteen feet in length by fifteen inches in 
breadth, hollowed out of the large tree (which we at first mistook for a 
banyan-tree), and furnished with outriggers similar to the canoes of 
Clermont Tonnere. 
This island, the north end of which is situated in latitude 20*^ 45' 
07" S., and longitude 4° 07' 48" West, of Gambier Island, I named Bar- 
row Island, in compliment to the Secretary of the Admiralty, whose lite- 
rary talents and zeal for the promotion of geographical science have 
been long known to the world. 
Feb. 1st. The party on shore succeeded in the course of a few hours in col- 
lecting a tolerable supply of hard wood, very well adapted for fuel, and 
some brooms, after which we beat to windward in search of Carysfort 
Island ; and at four o’clock in the afternoon had the satisfaction to see 
land in that direction ; but, in consequence of a strong current setting to 
the southward, we did not get near it until the afternoon of the following 
day. It answered in every respect to Captain Edwards’s description of 
Carysfort Island. The strip of land is so low, that the sea, in several 
places, washes into the lagoon. Like all the other islands of this forma- 
tion we had visited, the w^eather side and the points of the island were 
most wooded, but the vegetation was on the whole scanty. There is no 
danger near this island. The outer part of the bank descends abruptly 
as follows : at sixty yards from the breakers, 5 fathoms water 
Eighty yards . *. 13 ditto 
One hundred and twenty do. 18 ditto 
Two hundred yards . 24 ditto 
On the edge of the bank immediately after, no bottom with 35 fathoms. 
During the night we stood quietly to the southward in search of 
Matilda Rocks and Osnaburgh Island. At daylight we saw large flocks 
of tern, and at eleven o’clock land was reported bearing W. by S. The 
barge and the ship circumnavigated this island before dark, and then 
kept under easy sail during the night. I learnt from Mr. Belcher, 
who had passed round the eastern side of the island, that he had found 
