SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
205 
they bit at the blades of the oars as they dipped into the 
water. On the shore, which was steep and shelving, we 
found shells of various kinds, such as cliama gigas, cypraea 
argus, and others of the genus ; a very large turbo, inhabited 
by the hermit crab; a pecten; a nautilus; and several 
muretes; and traces of turtle were observable, though we 
did not see the animal. Large families of sea-birds had 
made their abode here. The frigate pelican seemed the 
most numerous, then, as we flatter ourselves, a new species, 
which we named Pelicanus Candida. These birds were act¬ 
ually sitting on their nests, containing two white eggs each, 
and scarcely noticed our approach. The red-tailed tropic-bird 
was also there; and a procellaria, not unlike the Procellaria 
Alba of Linnaeus ; a tarn, which we have called Sterna Mal¬ 
den sis ; a white tarn, differing but in a few points from 
Linnaeus’s Sterna Alba. These, with a small field-rat, a cop¬ 
per-coloured lizard, and a dragon-fly, were the only inha¬ 
bitants we found on the Island. Yet there are traces of 
human occupation, if not of habitation. Large square areas 
raised to the height of three feet above the ordinary sur¬ 
face are here and there to be seen, supported by blocks of 
wrought coral, and each having in the centre what we may 
call an altar or table-tomb. Captain Cook has mentioned 
similar edifices, if they may he called so, in some other 
