without any unpleasantness occurring', and during my extended 
excursions over the country, I experienced every assistance, hos¬ 
pitality and Mildness. Notwithstanding, however, the peaceful 
aspect of the people, it is the duty of every commander of a 
ship visiting them to he on his guard, since they are extremely 
capricious, and capable of the greatest outrages when least 
suspected. 
Two missionaries we conveyed from England for this island 
re settled at the valley opening upon [resolution Bay with as 
m uch comfort as could reasonably be expected. They had fo-und 
but little encouragement, however, in the disposition of the na- " 
tives, who, though they had abolished open idolatry, retained the 
greater part oi the prejudices and customs of their heathen state. 
The language of these people has some striking peculiarities, 
but partakes largely of both the Tahitian and Hawaiian dialects. 
Resolution Bay, described by Cook, corresponds to the valley 
oi Vaitaliu. On the beach a stream of fresh water gushes from the 
face oi a rocky cliff, and affords shipping a convenient and good 
supply oi this essential. It is the same watering place indicated 
by Cook, and the flow is supplied by a mountain stream not visible 
in the vicinity of the coast. Eutiti, the principal chief of Vai- 
tabu, is a shrewd and avaricious man, elderly and very corpulent. 
He is eager to encourage the visits of shipping to his port, since, 
through his traffic with them, and c sequent acquirement of mus¬ 
kets, &c., he contrives to maintain considerable influence over the 
other chiefs of the island. This chief is the patron of our mis¬ 
sionaries, cr tor the benefit of their cause it is to be wished he 
were absolute. The coast of Santa Christina is rocky, abrupt, 
and surf-beaten : no coral reef encircles and protects its shores, 
nor those of any other island of this group. Nevertheless, the 
detritus of coral is abundant on th aches around the island. 
In return for supplies of live stock and vegetables to shipping, 
the natives alone require and value muskets and ammunition and 
tobacco. Of the muskets thus obtained they retain the best, and 
export the remainder to the neighbouring islands unfrequented 
by foreign shipping 
Roapoa .—Hove to off Port Jarvis, on the west side, rith good 
anchorage, to land three natives of the island who had accom¬ 
panied us from Oahu, where they had been left by an American 
ship. Several canoes came off to the ship, and the natives ex¬ 
pressed much disappointment that we would not anchor and 
trade with them. The principal native amongst them brought 
with him a writ on list of the ships that had visited the island, 
and a rough chart of the coast,* but who was the author of these 
^ " Mr. Bennett a as kindly presented a copy to the library of the Society. The 
chart is certainly a rough sketch, but it makes Port Jarvis on the N.W. side, with 
good :horage m eighteen fathoms—wood and water.— -Ed. , „ • - - 
Voyage round the Globe. 
gok 
W.-I kJ 
ivISS. I could not ascertain. I he island of lloapoa appears to 
be nearly the same size as Sta. Christina, and equally mountainous, 
rugged, and bold. 1 he summits of many of its mountains pre¬ 
sent conspicuous columns, spires or pinnacles of rocks. The 
land extends m a direction nearly north and south, arid presents 
on the coast a succession of valleys of a highly fertile and pic¬ 
turesque appearance. These most prevail on the. western side 
of the hind, where several ports with convenient anchorage exist 
which have been visited by some few South Sea men, though the 
island is generally but little known or frequented. From Roa- 
poa the island of NouJcahiva is distinctly visible, thirty miles 
distant, and the islands of Sta. Dominica and Sta. Christina, at sixty 
miles- distance, may be more faintly discerned. If it appears re¬ 
markable that Mendafla, in his discovery oi the Marquesas, should 
leave Cook to discover Hood s Island, which is so very visible 
mom the island oi Sta. Dominica, it is yet more remarkable that 
Cook should have failed to discover the island of Roapoa, which 
on a serene day may be distinctly seen with the naked eye from 
tne beach at Resolution Bay, Sta. Christina.* 
Caroline Island, April 23, 1835.—This is one of the-low coral 
islandsf of the South Pacific, and situated by car observations in 
lat* 9° W S., long, (measured f m the island of Raiatea) 150° 
Iffi YV. I he entire island does not exceed four or five miles in 
circumference; it is circular, and composed of several connected, 
small circular peninsulas. A capacious and tranquil lagoon oc¬ 
cupies the space within the land, and is bounded on a portion of 
its eastern or weather side by a barrier reef of coral, against 
which a heavy surf constantly breaks. The structure of the land 
presented no material but coral in all its varied forms. The 
greatest elevation of the soil did not exceed five or six feet, and 
the coral rocks and shelving shores betrayed the progressive re¬ 
coding of the ocean from the land it had so materially assisted to 
raise. Each compartment of the island was covered by dense 
' riffitation of a highly verdant aud pleasing character, some of the 
loftiest trees attaining the height of twenty feet. No collection 
oi fresh water is visible on the island, though doubtless, as in many 
other of the low coral islands, much of good quality may be 
obtained from excavations in the sands. 
1 he coast of Caroline Island is continuous, with a low and ex- 
*'l 1G ^stance is iifty-eight miles, which proves the elevation of Roapoa to he 
feet, and Santa Christina about 3000 feet above flic sea.—Ei>. 
T Discovered by Broughton in 1795, in lat. 9° 57', long. 150° 25' W., and 
eijun essthe same as Thornton Island. See Krusenstern, M£m. Hyd. Sup., « 10 
f, * r an<1 was also seen b y Captain Willinck, in 1824, when in command of the 
;• : ch corvette the Lynx; and lie gives its position 9° 54' S. 150° 9' W. of Green- 
ikdTisffi 1 r* ° m d8 Were,d in de Jaren » 1823 ~ 4 ' van L p - M. 'Willinck. 
