A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 12: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the; Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea; and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present TimeKerr, Robert
History
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 12: Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the; Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea; and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time
Kerr, Robert
Voyages and travels
To the southermost of the two, which when we first discovered land were
right a-head, I gave the name of _Lord Howe's Island_, and the other was
Egmont Island, of which some account has already been given. The
latitude of Lord Howe's Island is 11° 10' S. longitude 164° 43' E. The
latitude of Cape Byron, the north-east point of Egmont Island, is 10°
40' S. longitude 164° 49' E. The east sides of these two islands, which
lie exactly in a line with each other, about N. by W. and S. by E.
including the passage between them, extend about eleven leagues, and the
passage is about four miles broad; both of them appear to be fertile,
and have a pleasant appearance, being covered with tall trees, of a
beautiful verdure. Lord Howe's Island, though more flat and even than
the other, is notwithstanding high land. About thirteen leagues W.N.W.
1/2 N. by compass, from Cape Byron, there is an island of a stupendous
height, and a conical figure. The top of it is shaped like a funnel,
from which we saw smoke issue, though no flame; it is, however,
certainly a volcano, and therefore I called it _Volcano Island_. To a
long flat island that, when Howe's and Egmont's islands were right
a-head, bore N.W. I gave the name of _Keppel's Island_. It lies in
latitude 10° 15' S. longitude, by account, 165° 4' E. The largest of two
others to the S.E. I called _Lord Edgcumb's Island_. The small one I
called _Ourry's Island_. Edgcumb's Island has a fine, pleasant
appearance, and lies in latitude 11° 10' S. longitude 163° 14' E. The
latitude of Ourry's Island is 11° 10' S. longitude 165° 19' E. The other
islands, of which there were several, I did not particularly name.
The inhabitants of Egmont island, whose persons have been described
already, are extremely nimble, vigorous, and active, and seem to be
almost as well qualified to live in the water as upon the land, for they
were in and out of their canoes almost every minute. The canoes that
came out against us from the west end of the island, were all like that
which our people brought on board, and might probably, upon occasion,
carry about a dozen men, though three or four manage them with amazing
dexterity: We saw, however, others of a large size upon the beach, with
awnings or shades over them.
We got two of their bows, and a bundle of their arrows, from the canoe
that was taken with the wounded man; and with these weapons they do
execution at an incredible distance. One of them went through the boat's
washboard, and dangerously wounded a midshipman in the thigh. Their
arrows were pointed with flint, and we saw among them no appearance of
any metal. The country in general is woody and mountainous, with many
vallies intermixed; several small rivers flow from the interior part of
the country into the sea, and there are many harbours upon the coast.
The variation here was about 11° 15' E.
SECTION V.
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