On this we brought to, and sounded with 130 fathoms of line, but had no ground.  This had the appearance of a dangerous cluster of shoals, for being situated in a climate where it seldom blows so strong as to raise a large sea, a ship might in the night, without a very good look-out, be in very great danger before they could be perceived:  they appeared to be sand shoals, and very little below the surface:  the passage we sailed through is in latitude 6 deg. 52’ south, and longitude 161 deg. 06’ east:  these patches should not be crossed in the night:  I called them Bradley’s Shoals.  The variation was here 8 deg. 01’ east.

On the 14th, at day-light in the morning, we saw land, and at sunrise we observed this land to be a number of islands; some were of considerable extent, and many of a smaller size.  Thirty-two were distinctly counted from the mast-head, bearing from north-west half north to north-east half east; many of them were considerably distant, so far as to make it probable that we did not see the whole of this extensive groupe.  At ten o’clock we perceived six or seven canoes coming off, with large triangular sails; a little after noon, one of them, with nine men in it, came up with us, although we did not shorten sail:  we could not persuade them to come along-side, or touch the ship, but we threw a few beads and nails, and other trifles, into their boat, with which they appeared much pleased; and in return, they threw some pieces of cocoa-nut on board; at one o’clock a fresh breeze sprung up, and they left us.  The men in this boat were a stout, clean, well made people, of a dark copper colour; their hair was tied in a knot on the back of their head, and they seemed to have some method of taking off their beards; for they appeared to us as if clean shaved, but they had an ornament, consisting of a number of fringes, like an artificial beard, which was fastened on between the nose and mouth, and close under the nose; to that beard hung a row of teeth, which gave them the appearance of having a mouth lower than their natural one; they had holes run through the sides of the nose into the passage, into which, as well as through the septum, were thrust pieces of reed or bone; their arms and thighs were marked in the manner described by Captain Cook, of some of the natives of the islands he visited in these seas, called tatowing; and some were painted with red and white streaks; they wore a wrapper round their middle.  Their canoe was about 40 feet long; it was badly made, and had an out-rigger.

The islands appeared very thickly covered with wood, among which the cocoa-nut was very distinguishable; I think it highly probable that there may be good anchorage amongst them, but my situation would not admit of my examining into that matter.  They lie in an east and west direction along that side on which we sailed (south side), and their latitude on that side is 5 deg. 30’ south, the longitude from 159 deg. 14’ east to 159 deg. 37’ east*.