At four o’clock next morning, I ordered a boat to be hoisted out, and sent the master to sound the south-west side of Annamooka; where there appeared to be a harbour, formed by the island on the north-east, and by small islots and shoals, to the south-west and south-east. In the mean time the ships were got under sail, and wrought up to the island. When the master returned, he reported, that he had sounded between Great and Little Annamooka, where he found ten and twelve fathoms’ depth of water, the bottom coral sand; that the place was very well sheltered from all winds; but that there was no fresh water to be found, except at some distance inland; and that, even there, little of it was to be got, and that little not good. For this reason only, and it was a very sufficient one, I determined to anchor on the north side of the island, where, during my last voyage, I had found a place fit both for watering and landing. It was not above a league distant; and yet we did not reach it till five o’clock in the afternoon, being considerably retarded by the great number of canoes that continually crowded round the ships, bringing to us abundant supplies of the produce of their island. Amongst these canoes, there were some double ones, with a large sail, that carried between forty and fifty men each. These sailed round us apparently with the same ease, as if we had been at anchor. There were several women in the canoes, who were, perhaps, incited by curiosity to visit us; though, at the same time, they bartered as eagerly as the men, and used the paddle with equal labour and dexterity. I came to an anchor in eighteen fathoms’ water, the bottom coarse coral sand; the island extending from east to south-west; and the west point of the westernmost cove south-east, about three quarters of a mile distant. Thus I resumed the very same station which I had occupied when I visited Annamooka three years before[177]; and, probably, almost in the same place where Tasman, the first discoverer of this, and some of the neighbouring islands, anchored in 1643.[178]