Under the low trees above-mentioned, sat infinite numbers of tern, or egg-bird. These are black above, and white below, with a white arch on the forehead; and are rather larger than the common noddy. Most of them had lately hatched their young; which lay under the old ones, upon the bare ground. The rest had eggs; of which they only lay one, larger than that of a pigeon, bluish and speckled with black. There were also a good many common boobies; a sort that are almost like a gannet; and a sooty, or chocolate-coloured one, with a white belly. To this list we must add men-of-war-birds; tropic birds; curlews; sand-pipers; a small land-bird like a hedge-sparrow; land-crabs; small lizards; and rats. As we kept our Christmas here, I called this discovery Christmas Island. I judge it to be about fifteen or twenty leagues in circumference. It seemed to be of a semicircular form; or like the moon in the last quarter, the two horns being the north and south points; which bear from each other nearly north by east, and south by west, four or five leagues distant. This west side, or the little isle at the entrance into the _lagoon_, upon which we observed the eclipse, lies in the latitude of 1° 59ʹ north, and in the longitude of 202° 30ʹ east, determined by a considerable number of lunar observations, which differed only 7ʹ from the time-keeper; it being so much less. The variation of the compass was 6° 22-1/2ʹ E.; and the dip of the north end of the needle 11° 54ʹ. Christmas Island, like most others in this ocean, is bounded by a reef of coral rocks, which extends but a little way from the shore. Farther out than this reef, on the west side, is a bank of sand, extending a mile into the sea. On this bank is good anchorage, in any depth between eighteen and thirty fathoms. In less than the first mentioned depth, the reef would be too near; and in more than the last, the edge of the bank would not be at a sufficient distance. During the time we lay here, the wind blew constantly a fresh gale at east, or east by south, except one or two days. We had, always, a great swell from the northward, which broke upon the reef, in a prodigious surf. We had found this swell before we came to the island; and it continued for some days after we left it. CHAP. XI. SOME ISLANDS DISCOVERED.—ACCOUNT OF THE NATIVES OF ATOOI, WHO COME OFF TO THE SHIPS, AND THEIR BEHAVIOUR ON GOING ON BOARD.—ONE OF THEM KILLED.—PRECAUTIONS USED TO PREVENT INTERCOURSE WITH THE FEMALES.—A WATERING-PLACE FOUND.—RECEPTION UPON LANDING.—EXCURSION INTO THE COUNTRY.—A MORAI VISITED AND DESCRIBED.—GRAVES OF THE CHIEFS, AND OF THE HUMAN SACRIFICES THERE BURIED.—ANOTHER ISLAND, CALLED ONEEHOW, VISITED.—CEREMONIES PERFORMED BY THE NATIVES, WHO GO OFF TO THE SHIPS.—REASONS FOR BELIEVING THAT THEY ARE CANNIBALS.—A PARTY SENT ASHORE, WHO REMAIN TWO NIGHTS.—ACCOUNT OF WHAT PASSED ON LANDING.—THE SHIPS LEAVE THE ISLANDS, AND PROCEED TO THE NORTH.