176 
PORTER'S JOURNAL. 
any. Mr. Adams informed me, that he had made a complete sur¬ 
vey of the island, and had determined the latitude and longitude 
•f the principal points ; but that, on the most careful examina¬ 
tion, he had not been able to find either good anchorage or fresh 
water; but stated that it abounded in wood, and that land-tor¬ 
toises and green turtle were in the greatest abundance, the for¬ 
mer generally of an enormous size, one of which measured five 
feet and a half long, four feet and a half wide, and three feet 
thick, and others were found by some of the seamen of a larger 
size ; from this island, James,’ Albemarle, Norfolk, Barrington, 
Crossman’s, Charles’, and many others were to be seen; but he 
could perceive none that bore the slightest resemblance, in po¬ 
sition or appearance, to those called by captain Colnet Duncan’s 
and Jarvis’ islands; and as this island was now destitute of a name, 
and he could perceive no traces of its having been visited before, 
he highly complimented me, by giving it the name of Porter’s 
island. 
The S.W. landing of this island is in latitude 0° 42' 14" S„ 
longitude 90* 27' 9" W. 
The N.VV. landing is in latitude 0° 32' 40" S., longitude 90® 
23' 54" W* 
The N.E. landing is in latitude 0° 31' 12" S., longitude 90° 
12' 45" W. 
Having now got on board as much wood as we stood in need 
•f, and all the water that could be procured, as well as a stock of 
salt provisions from the prizes, and a supply of tortoises, we had 
nothing to detain us longer at Charles’ island; I therefore made 
the signal to prepare to weigh, and at 9 o’clock on the morning 
of the 21st, weighed our anchor, and, in company with our prizes, 
stood to the south-west, with a view of getting an offing sufficient 
to enable us to weather Charles’ island on the other tack, which I 
had reason to hope we could do without much difficulty, as I per¬ 
ceived we had a current setting to the southward. We found 
our stream-cable a little chafed by the rocks, but less so than 
I had apprehended, from the quality of the bottom we had an¬ 
chored in. 
