A VOYAGE TO 
July* - mea ^ ur ^- n g the diitance from illand to illand, but by exprefl- 
u.—._> ing the time required to make the voyage, in one of their 
-canoes. In order to afcertain this, with fome precifion, or, 
at leaft, to form fome judgment, how far thefe canoes can 
fail, in a moderate gale, in any given time, I went on board 
one of them, when under fail, and, by feveral trials with 
the log, found that die went feven knots, or miles, in an 
hour, clofe hauled, in a gentle gale. From this I judge, 
that they will fail, on a medium, with luch breezes as ge¬ 
nerally blow in their fea, about feven or eight miles in an 
hour. But the length of each day is not to be reckoned at 
twenty-four hours. For when they fpeak of one day’s fail, 
they mean no more than from the morning to the evening 
of the fame day; that is, ten or tw'elve hours at mod. And 
two days fail, with them, lignifies from the morning of 
the firft day, to the evening of the fecond; and fo for 
any other number of days. In thefe navigations, the fun 
is their guide by day, and the ftars by night. When thefe 
are obfcured, they have recourfe to the points from whence 
the winds and the waves came upon the veflel. If, during 
the obfcuration, both the wind and the waves diould diift 
(which, within the limits of the trade-wind, feldom happens 
at any other time), they are then bewildered, frequently 
mifs their intended port, and are never heard of more. The 
hiltory of Omai’s countrymen, who were driven to Wa- 
teeoo, leads us to infer, that thofe not heard of, are not 
always loft. 
Of all the harbours and anchoring places I have met with 
amongft thefe illands, that of Tongataboo is, by far, the 
belt; not only on account of its great fecurity, but of its 
capacity, and of the goodnefs of its bottom. The rifk that 
we ran, in entering it from the North, ought to be a fuffi- 
cient 
