the place of anchorage, which he named Resolution Bay. He did not, however, leave these islands, till he had ascertained their exact position, hitherto erroneously laid down. He made observations also, as usual, on the inhabitants, whom he describes as the finest race of men in the Pacific. Their manners, dress, weapons, and language were akin to those of Otaheite and the Society Isles; and Oedidee was able to converse with them tolerably well.
Taking his departure from the Marquesas on the 12th, our navigator, having a fine easterly wind, steered to the west and south, till on the 17th he fell in with an island, consisting of a cluster of low islets connected by a coral reef; which proved to be Tiookea, discovered by Commodore Byron. Lieut. Cooper, and Mr. Forster were sent on shore with two boats; but they found the natives shy and unfriendly. They procured, however, five dogs, and two dozen cocoa-nuts. The natives, like the Marquesans and Tahitians, were tattooed; and most of the men were marked with the figure of a fish, an appropriate emblem of their profession. Next day, a similar cluster of islets appeared, being another discovery of Byron; who named this island and Tiookea George's Islands; but placed their longitude about 4° too far west; a mistake which Capt. Cook now corrected. Other four islands, or circles of islets, with a lagoon in the middle, were met with on the 19th; and this group the Captain named Palliser's Isles, in honour of his friend and patron. The inhabitants were like those of Tiookea. Referring to these discoveries, Captain Cook observes, that this part of the ocean is so thickly strewed with such low isles, that a navigator cannot proceed with too much caution.
