no very pleasuroable feelings* as w# had the conviction from, our search* 
that# should we bo so unfortunate as to be unable to get olear of this 
island* we had nothing to do but resign ourselves quietly to the death 
that awaited us* since not a drop of fresh water was to be found* It 
is true* there was plenty of fish* birds* turtles* and seals, which 
would amply have satisfied our hunger) but with what were we to have 
quenched our thirst?—If our excursion to the new island was not 
pleasant* It was at least lucrative as to shells* coral* petrified 
sponges* and other ourioslties* of which we brought away a great 
quantity* 
ies nothing to the adventurous voyager but car- 
rst instance* and almost unavoidable destruction 
in the event* It stands in the middle of a very perilous coral bank* 
and. exclusive of a 
part. 
on 
a level with the sea* Its soil consists of ooral sand, that is overgrown 
with creeping plants and grass* in the manner I have described* 
the birds we saw* the most worthy of notice was a species of 
at least it resembled that bird* both in size and in colourj when flying 
in the night* it made a loud and disagreeable noise* 
As there is no water* so neither are any trees to be seen on 
island* We found* however* several large trunks of trees on the bene! 
which* no doubt, had been thrown up by the sea* The largest of these 
trunks* at the root end* measured twenty-one feet in circumference* 
They were like the rod-wood tree, that grows on the banks of the rivej 
Columbia in America* I am at a loss what oonolusion to draw from 
appearance of these trunks in so remote a place* If they could n< 
have been drifted by the sea from America* on account of the greal 
distance* it follows that they must have come from some nearer t _„ 
On the Sandwich Islands trees of this kind do not grow) and Japan* like 
America* is very remote* It is not therefore improbable* that* on 
same line on which lie the Sandwich Islands* Necker Island* 
island now found* there are lands more to the north-west* wl__ 
owe their discovery to some future navigator) perhaps likewise on the 
same line lies the island* said by some writers to have been formerly 
discovered by the Spaniards in the latitude of 35° 30* north* and thn 
longitude of 170° east* 
I also found on the beaoh & small oallabash* which had a round hole 
out on one side of it# This oould not have been drifted from a great 
distance* as it was fresh and in good preservation# I oarrnot help re¬ 
garding it as a great misfortune that the ship grounded, as I should 
otherwise certainly not have quitted the environs of this Island till 
I had explored them thoroughly) bub in her present damaged state* 
though the hope of discovery was dear to ray heart* I dared not attempt 
it* 
I shall insert hare a plan of the island* that by comparing it with 
the description I have given of our situation* the reader may judge how 
great was our peril* and how miraculous our escape* When I reflect* 
