THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
217 
beautiful that can be imagined; the yellow, blue, red, 1777. 
black, See. far exceeding any thing that art can produce. , ApriL , 
Their various forms, alfo, contributed to increafe the rich- 
nefs of this fubmarine grotto, which could not be furveyed 
without a plealing tranfport, mixed, however, with regret, 
that a work, fo ftupendoufly elegant, fhould be concealed, 
in a place where mankind could feldom have an oppor¬ 
tunity of rendering the praifes juftly due to fo enchanting 
a feene. 
There were no traces of inhabitants having ever been 
here; if we except a fmall piece of a canoe that was 
found upon the beach ; which, probably, may have drifted 
from fome other illand. But, what is pretty extraordi¬ 
nary, we faw feveral fmall brown rats on this fpot; a cir- 
cumftance, perhaps, difficult to account for, unlefs we allow 
that they were imported in the canoe of which we faw the 
remains. 
After the boats were laden, I returned on board, leaving 
Mr. Gore, with a party, to pafs the night on ffiore, in order 
to be ready to go to work early the next morning. 
That day, being the 15th, was accordingly fpent, as the Tuefdayij, 
preceding one had been, in collecting, and bringing on 
board, food for the cattle, conliffing chiefly of palm-cab¬ 
bage, young cocoa-nut trees, and the tender branches of 
the wbarra tree. Having got a fufficient fupply of thefe, 
by funfet, I ordered every body on board. But having little 
or no wind, I determined to wait, and to employ the next 
day, by endeavouring to get fome cocoa-nuts for our peo¬ 
ple, from the next illand to leeward, where we could ob~ 
ferve that thofe trees were in much greater abundance, 
than upon that where we had already landed, and where 
only the wants of our cattle had been relieved. 
Vol. I. F f 
With 
