214 
VOYAGE TO THE 
The whole Island seems to be of coral formation. We 
brought away two or three specimens of phosphate of lime ; 
and did not observe any thing else worthy of remark. 
As Mauti has not been laid down in any chart, or de¬ 
scribed by any navigator, we used the privilege of dis¬ 
coverers, and named it Parry’s Island. It lies in 20° 8' 
south latitude, and 157° 20' of west longitude. 
On the 10th of August we gave up all hope of being 
able to reach Otaheite, as the south-east wind freshened to 
nearly a gale; we therefore bore up for Valparaiso, and for 
twenty-one days averaged 205 miles a day. 
On the 11th and 12th of August, while the winds were 
unsettled, we observed two splendid meteors, one of which 
had the appearance of a ship blowing up. 
On the 4th of September we made Juan Fernandez, but 
passed it at the rate of eleven knots an hour. This Island 
can never be passed without interest. The real Alexander 
Selkirk, and Kobinson Crusoe, no less real to our imagina¬ 
tion, have thrown a romantic glory over its craggy summits 
and woody valleys, now left again to solitude, since the Chi¬ 
lian government found it expedient to break up the settle¬ 
ment, and remove the prisoners and convicts, who were not 
long ago its inhabitants. 
On Tuesday morning, the 6th of September, we descried, 
at the distance of ninety miles off shore, the lofty summits 
