this, where so many were constantly assembled, should escape observation. We should there have found one of the men, as he afterwards informed us, for whom we were so anxiously looking; but the discovery might have been attended with bloodshed, and, perhaps, fatal consequences to our shore party, than whom the natives were much more numerous. William Lay, one of the Globe's crew, had been brought to this islet, by the chiefs, to be used as circumstances might suggest. He was concealed in the garret of the hut, and guarded by a number of old women, who were directed, the first whisper of noise that he made, to put him to death, the chiefs having also denounced their heaviest vengeance upon him, if he should, in any way, disclose the secret of his being there. He lay in this unhappy situation for several hours, listening to the interchange of opinion amongst his countrymen, from whose conversation he was informed of the character of our vessel, and the object of her cruise. Towards sun-down, when our parties were weary with the labour of the day, they repaired on board for the night, and the natives, getting into their canoes, took their departure from the islet, and steered away, over the inland sea, until they were lost in the horizon. We stood off and on during the night, and, at nine in the morning, anchored in nine fathoms water, near our place of landing. Here there was a channel into the inland sea, having nearly water enough for the schooner, and through which we made an unsuccessful attempt to pass. Our situation was now becoming very unpleasant. It was necessary for us to have parties on shore, exploring the islands, and the remainder of the crew was quite insufficient to get the vessel underway,--an expedient indispensable, whenever the wind came on shore, as the anchorage hardly ever extended more than half a cable's length from it. That we might lose nothing from delay or want of perseverance, however, soon after we came to, an officer, with a party of eleven men, attended by a boat to take them over the drowned reefs, was sent to march round, and explore the islets, that formed a continued chain to the southward and westward of us. We felt a conviction, from the conduct of the natives, that they were unwilling to give us the intelligence we required, and that we must depend entirely upon our industry and good fortune, for any discovery we might make. In the evening we sent a boat to communicate with our party, but they had advanced so far, that she returned without seeing any of them.