greatest perseverance. It was a very large canoe, manned by thirty people, who all appeared more robust than the inhabitants of the Admiralty Islands, and of the same complexion.
Those natives advanced towards us with very pacific views; for they were not furnished with arms; and, from on board the Esperance, to which they approached much nearer than to our ship, no weapons were observed even in the bottoms of the canoes. Perhaps they thought that by this means they might induce us to land.
Those canoes, though similar in appearance to those of the Admiralty Islands, were not nearly such good sailers. That which came nearest to us had at first but one sail; but they set another abaft it, in order to follow us. This after-sail was much smaller than the forward one; and they were both in the form of a rectangle, the length of which was almost double its breadth. They were trimmed like the square sails of our long boats.
Their large sail was as much raised as that of the canoes we saw at the Admiralty Islands, and descended lower, so as to offer a greater surface to the wind.
The whole of the Hermit Islands, including the reefs, occupy a space about twelve leagues in
circuit,
