temper in themselves, which, reasoning from their own feelings, they ascribe to us.

As the night was now too far advanced to send a boat on shore with prudence, I hauled to the wind and stood to the southward, intending to embark the four other men in the morning a step which, in humanity, I considered myself bound to adopt to a certain degree, as whatever my surmises to their prejudice might be, they should not carry the weight of incontrovertible and substantiated charges.

The officer in charge of the boat mentioned that the lascar had requested him to inform me that the islanders had taken all the fowls and goats from him, and therefore he desired now to join me and quit the island. He sent me a further message, that he would thank me for a cold chisel, some tobacco, beads, and tokees, which I considered rather inconsistent with his desire to quit the island; and comparing the whole with his positive refusal yesterday to accompany the ship to Mannicolo, I considered him at best as very fickle in his resolves. I mentioned the matter to Martin Bushart, who discredited his statement of being robbed, as the islanders were in too much awe of me to attempt any thing of the kind while I lay about their coast. This lascar, it seems, whenever he is displeased with the natives,

threatens to leave them; on which they usually make him presents, in order to appease him, and beg of him not to leave them and his country, as the whole island belonged to him and Martin Bushart. It was no doubt (continued Martin) one of these whims which had now seized him, and which would probably be propitiated by the islanders in the usual way.

About this time the Tucopian pilot urged on my attention the expediency of proceeding immediately to Mannicolo, which he represented as abounding with reefs; and he strongly dilated upon the advantages of the present moonlight nights for approaching it. On this account I considered the loss of one night's moon of more importance than the services of the four Europeans and the lascar, and therefore at half past seven, the ship being four miles distant from the island, it bearing N.N.W., I bore up W. and by N.IN., and set all sail toward the longwished-for Mannicolo.

I left a letter with the lascar for Monsieur d'Urville, again acquainting him with the object of the expedition, and stating where he would find me at anchor for a month to come.

I had good observations both east and west of Tucopia, and made the latitude of its centre 12° 17′ S., and its longitude 168° 58′ E.: thus. differing in latitude two miles, and in longitude

the same extent, from the Barwell's situation of it.

The island is somewhat triangular in its shape, and may be seven miles in circumference. From the east to the west points is two miles; from the south-west to the north-west points is from one and three-quarters to two miles: the other side, between the east point and north-west point, is about three miles. It can be approached with safety all round, is of considerable height, and may be seen at the distance of forty miles in clear weather, being the highest land I have seen since quitting New Zealand, with the exception of the Grand Mountain of Barilla. Supplies of all kinds, such as yams, cocoa-nuts, &c. are scarce and dear. On re-examining the soundings, I found a ship might anchor in case of great necessity, with the following bearings : The point of the reef which lies off the southwest part of the island bearing S. by W.; the north-west point of the island bearing N.E.E.; and the landing-place or bluff-head bearing E. by S. The soundings were twenty-seven fathoms of water, distance off shore two cable-lengths: bottom coarse sand and shells. Immediately outside of these soundings there are from fifty to one hundred fathoms water. Within two hundred fathoms of the shore the bank appears to be quite as steep as the hills are on

the land, a remark, I believe, of very general application.

Rathea, our pilot, pointed out a star by which to steer the ship, and said that I should see Mannicolo in the morning. With his directions in this respect I complied.

I had an inventory taken of all the things received on board by Mr. Russell from the trading officer on Tucopia, in the presence of M. Chaigneau the French gentleman, Mr. Russell the draughtsman, and Doctor Griffiths, the ship's surgeon, describing the sword-handle and cyphers upon it, together with which I enclosed it in a tin box, sealed up, under the signatures of the above gentlemen and myself. I used this precaution for the following reason: While lying at New Zealand, Mr. Russell informed me that, in conversation with my late chief officer when we were at Van Diemen's Land, that person stated to him that Dr. Tytler had said, that the late second officer of the St. Patrick offered to make oath, that the sword-guard brought by me from Tucopia in the St. Patrick, had the cyphers engraven or stamped on it by my orders at Cal cutta. Astonished and shocked at such unprincipled conduct, it became my bounden duty to question my late second officer, who was then fortunately on board the Research as a passenger, relative to the assertion made

by him to Dr. Tytler; and his evident surprise when I informed him of what I had heard, convinced me of the malignity of Tytler's imputation against him. However, as he was to leave the ship at the Bay of Islands, I deemed it pru dent, as well to wipe off the aspersions thrown on his character, as to justify me from the base imposition attempted to be laid to my charge by Tytler, to avail myself of his solemn-assurances of the falsehood of the Doctor's statement, and his offer to make oath, that the idea never entered his head of charging me with being guilty of so gross a deception as that of surreptitiously marking the sword-guard. There being no magistrate in New Zealand, I took his statement myself in writing, and administered the oath to him in presence of M. Chaigneau, Dr. Griffiths, and Mr. Russell. To prevent, therefore, a similar attack on my character, should another individual be found equally malignant and slanderous, I took the precaution just stated, in presence of the gentlemen who examined the articles when they came on board.

So far from the sword-guard having been stamped, or in any way marked at Calcutta, there was not a person there who could explain the cyphers or stamp. A French artist of Calcutta, indeed, upon seeing it in Tytler's hands, thought he could make out from it the following