THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
223 
a fmall elevated iftand, lying clofe to the North fide of 1778. 
Oneeheow. 
Atooi, which is the largeft, being the principal fcene of 
our operations, I fhall now proceed to lay before my readers 
what information I was able to collect about it, either from 
adtual obfervation, while on fhore, or from converfation 
with its inhabitants, who were perpetually on board the 
fhips while we lay at anchor; and who, in general, could 
be tolerably well underftood, by thofe of us who had ac¬ 
quired an acquaintance with the dialects of the South Pa¬ 
cific Mauds. It is, however, to be regretted, that we fhould 
have been obliged, fo foon, to leave a place, which, as far 
as our opportunities of knowing reached, feemed to be 
highly worthy of a more accurate examination. 
Atooi, from what we faw of it, is, at leaft, ten leagues 
in length from Eaft to Weft ; from whence its circuit may 
nearly be guefted, though it appears to be much broader 
at the Eaft than at the Weft point, if we may judge from 
the double range of hills which appeared there. The road, 
or anchoring-place, which we occupied, is on the South 
Weft fide of the iftand, about fix miles from the Weft end, 
before a village which has the name of Wymoa. As far as 
we founded, we found, that the bank has a fine grey fand 
at the bottom, and is free from rocks ; except a little to the 
Eaftward of the village, where there fpits out a fhoal, on 
which are feme rocks and breakers; but they are not far 
.from the fhore. This road would be entirely fheltered from 
the trade wind, if the height of the land, over which it 
blows, did not alter its direction, and make it follow that of 
the coaft; fo that it blows at North Eaft, on one fide of the 
iftand, and at Eaft South Eaft, or South Eaft, on the other, 
falling obliquely upon the fhore. Thus the road, though 
1 fituated 
