354 
A VOYAGE TO 
1777. iflands; and, as Tongataboo is a fine level country, tbe 
> ^ ly ’ borfes cannot but be ufeful. 
Thurfday 10. On the 10th, at eight o’clock in the morning, we weighed 
anchor, and, with a Heady gale at South Eaft, turned 
through the channel, between the fmall iiles called Makka- 
haa and Monooafai; it being much wider than the channel 
between the lall mentioned ifiand and Pangimodoo. The 
flood fet ftrong in our favour, till we were the length of the 
channel leading up to the lagoon , where the flood from the 
Eaftward meets that from the Weft. This, together with 
the indraught of the lagoon , and of the Ihoals before it, 
caufeth ftrong ripplings and whirlpools. To add to thefe 
dangers, the depth of water in the channel exceeds the 
length of a cable; fo that there is no anchorage, except 
clofe to the rocks, where we meet with forty and forty-five 
fathoms, over a bottom of dark fand. But then, here* a 
Ihip would be expofed to the whirlpools. This fruftrated 
the defign which I had formed, of coming to an anchor, as 
foon as we were through the narrows, and of making an 
excurfion to fee the funeral. I chofe rather to lofe that ce¬ 
remony, than to leave the fhips in a fituation, in which I 
did not think them fafe. We continued to ply to windward, 
between the. two tides, without either gaining or lofing an 
inch, till near high water, when, by a favourable flant, we 
got into the Eaftern tide’s influence. We expedted, there, to 
find the ebb to run ftrong to the Eaflward in our favour; 
but it proved fo inconfiderable, that, at any other time, it 
would not have been noticed. This informed us, that moft 
of the water, which flows into the lagoon , comes from the 
North Weft, and returns the fame way. About five in the 
afternoon, finding that we could not get to fea before it was 
1 darkj 
