island, and came towards us very fast:  They stopped at about the same distance as the other had done, and one of them also in the same manner came forward:  To the people on board this vessel we made all the signs of friendship we could devise, shewing them every thing we had which we thought would please them, opening our arms, and inviting them on board:  But our rhetoric was to no effect, for as soon as they came within a cast of the ship, they poured in a shower of darts and lances, which, however, did us no harm.  We returned the assault by firing some muskets, and one man being killed, the rest precipitately leaped into the sea, and swimming to the others, who waited at a distance, all returned together from whence they came.  As soon as the canoe was deserted, we got out our boat and brought it on board:  It was full fifty feet long, though one of the smallest that came against us; it was very rudely made out of one tree, but had an out-rigger.  We found in it six fine fish, and a turtle, some yams, one cocoa-nut, and a bag full of a small kind of apple or plum, of a sweetish taste and farinaceous substance; it had a flatfish kernel, and was wholly different from every thing we have seen either before or since; it was eatable raw, but much better boiled, or roasted in the embers:  We found also two large earthen pots, shaped somewhat like a jug, with a wide mouth, but without handles, and a considerable quantity of matting, which these people use both for sails and awning, spreading it over bent sticks, much in the same manner as the tilts of the London wherries.  From the contents of this vessel we judged that it had been fishing, and we observed that the people had a fire on board, with one of their pots on it, in which they were boiling their provision.  When we had satisfied our curiosity by examining it, we cut it up for fire-wood.

These Indians were the same kind of people that we had seen before on the coast of New Ireland, and at Egmont Island:  They were of a very dark copper colour, nearly black, with woolly heads.  They chew beetle-nut, and go quite naked, except the rude ornaments of shells strung together, which they wear round their legs and arms:  They were also powdered like our last visitors, and had, besides, their faces painted with white streaks:  But I did not observe that they had any beards.  Their lances were pointed with a kind of bluish flint.

Having disengaged ourselves from this fierce and unfriendly people, we pursued our course along the other islands, which are between twenty and thirty in number, and of considerable extent; one in particular would alone make a large kingdom.  I called them the Admiralty Islands, and should have been glad to have examined them, if my ship had been in a better condition, and I had been provided with such articles as are proper for an Indian trade, especially as their appearance is very inviting:  They are clothed with the most beautiful verdure; the woods are lofty and luxuriant,