I was very desirous to get into communication with these people, as I thought we might possibly get some useful information relative to the buoy we had seen at the Duke of York's island, or about the _Bounty_ had she touched at either of these islands, or at any others in their neighbourhood. With that view I left in and about the houses hatchets, knives, glasses and a variety of things that I thought would be useful or pleasing to them, and also to show them that we were disposed to be friendly to them, and by that means I hoped they would become less shy, and that our intercourse with them would be brought about; and I stood round the northernmost island to visit other parts of the island, and on the 14th in the morning Lt. Corner was sent on shore with the tender, yawl and canoe, and he landed to the eastward of the northernmost island and marched round to the northeast extremity of the islands: he perceived marks of bare feet of the natives in different parts, but more particularly about the cocoanut trees, most of which were stripped of their fruit, but not a single person or canoe could be found. He embarked again at that part of the isles with great difficulty by the assistance of cork jackets and rope and the canoe. I supposed that the natives had left the island and I bore away to join the tender that had been sent to search for a channel into the lagoon near the northernmost isle; and after joining her I went once more towards the place we had first examined, and seeing no natives or any signs of them there I gave up the search. On the 15th stood to the southward for Navigators' islands. I called the island the Duke of Clarence's Island. It lies in Latitude 9 deg. 9' 30" and Longitude 171 deg. 30' 46".[48-1] From the abundance of cocoanut trees both on this and the Duke of York's island, in the trunks of which holes were cut transversely to catch and preserve water, and as no other water was seen by us we supposed it was the only means they had of procuring that useful and necessary article. On the 18th in the forenoon we saw a very high island and as I supposed it to be a new discovery I called it Chatham island,[49-1] and standing in for it, I perceived a Bay towards the N.E. end and I made a tack to endeavour to look into it. Perceiving that I could not accomplish my intentions before night I bore away and ran along the shore and sent the tender to reconnoitre, and found, opposite to a sandy beach where there was an Indian town, she got 25 fathoms about a quarter of a mile from the reef, which runs off the place and carries soundings of sand regularly in to 5 fathoms.