CHAPTER XII. 
Washington’s islands,—rooahooga. 
On the meridian of the 23rd. October the man at the mast¬ 
head discovered land bearing S.W.; our latitude at this time was 9° 
6' south, and the longitude by chronometer 138° 27' west, from 
which we supposed it to be Hood’s Island, one of the group of 
the Marquesas Islands, discovered by lord Hood, while a midship¬ 
man with captain Cook, and from its position it could be no other; 
yet the description given of this island by the historian of that voy¬ 
age, answers so little to Hood’s Island, as seen by us, that I should 
have had my doubts as to its identity did not its latitude and lon¬ 
gitude both correspond with that given by Cook, Hergest, and 
other navigators. Cook describes Hood’s Island to be mountain¬ 
ous, cut into valleys and thickly covered with brush-wood, and about 
fifteen or sixteen leagues in circuit. The Hood’s Island, seen by us, 
is a barren lump of a rock inaccessible on all its sides, destitute of 
verdure, and about three miles in circuit. After making this island, 
which is the most northerly of that group called the Marquesas 
de Mendania, first discovered by the Spaniards, I hove-to for my 
prizes to come up, which were a great distance astern (as they 
had been generally during our passage) and on their joining me 
I steered a little more the northward, under easy sail, to fall in with 
the island of Rooahooga, one of the group discovered by a captain 
Roberts of Boston, in the month of May, in the year 1792; this group 
was called by him Washington Group, and some of the islands 
were named by him, Adams, Jefferson, Hamilton, See. See., they 
were seen the preceding year (1791) by a captain Ingraham, of the 
same place; but he had done no more than perceive them and point 
out their situation. 
On the 20th June, 1791, some of them were seen and their po¬ 
sition determined by a captain Marchand, in the French ship So- 
lide, bound on a trading voyage to the N.W. coast of America. 
Lieutenant Hergest, of the British navy, saw them on the 30th 
