On the 31st, the wind shifted from N. by W. to N.W. by W. and the number of birds that were now about the ship was very great; from these circumstances, and our having lost the great south west swell, I imagined some land to be near, and we looked out for it with great diligence, for our people began now to fall down with the scurvy very fast.

We saw no land however till one o’clock in the morning of Friday the 7th of June, when we were in latitude 14° 5’S., longitude 144° 58’W.; and observed the variation to be 4° 30’E. After making the land, I hauled upon a wind under an easy sail till the morning, and then a low small island bore from us W.S.W. at the distance of about two leagues. In a very short time we saw another island to windward of us, bearing E.S.E. distant between three and four leagues: this appeared to be much larger than that which we first discovered, and we must have passed very near it in the night.

I stood for the small island, which as we drew near it had a most beautiful appearance; it was surrounded by a beach of the finest white sand, and within, it was covered with tall trees, which extended their shade to a great distance, and formed the most delightful groves that can be imagined, without underwood. We judged this island to be about five miles in circumference, and from each end of it we saw a spit running out into the sea, upon which the surge broke with great fury; there was also a great surf all round it. We soon perceived that it was inhabited; for many of the natives appeared upon the beach, with spears in their hands

Voyaging Accounts