We continued to sound, without striking ground with a line of fifty fathoms, till we came abreast of a low point, which is about the middle of the east side of the island, or rather nearer the N.W. end.  Here we met with twelve and fourteen fathoms over a rocky bottom.  Being past this point, from which the coast trended more northerly, we had twenty, then sixteen, twelve, and, at last, five fathoms over a sandy bottom.  The last soundings were about a mile from the shore.  Night now put a stop to any farther researches, and we spent it standing off and on.  The next morning we stood in for the land, and were met by several canoes filled with people, some of whom took courage and ventured on board.

In the course of my several voyages I never before met with the natives of any place so much astonished, as these people were upon entering a ship.  Their eyes were continually flying from object to object; the wildness of their looks and gestures fully expressing their entire ignorance about every thing they saw, and strongly marking to us, that, till now, they had never been visited by Europeans, nor been acquainted with any of our commodities, except iron; which, however, it was plain, they had only heard of, or had known it in some small quantity, brought to them at some distant period.  They seemed only to understand that it was a substance much better adapted to the purposes of cutting or of boring of holes, than any thing their own country produced.  They asked for it by the name of hamaite, probably referring to some instrument, in the making of which iron could be usefully employed; for they applied that name to the blade of a knife, though we could be certain that they had no idea of that particular instrument, nor could they at all handle it properly.  For the same reason they frequently called iron by the name of toe, which, in their language, signifies a hatchet, or rather a kind of adze.  On asking them what iron was, they immediately answered, “We do not know; you know what it is, and we only understand it as toe, or hamaite.”  When we shewed them some beads, they asked first, “What they were;” and then “whether they should eat them.”  But on their being told that they were to be hung in their ears, they returned them as useless.  They were equally indifferent as to a looking-glass, which was offered them, and returned it for the same reason; but sufficiently expressed their desire for hamaite and toe, which they wished might be very large.  Plates of earthen-ware, china-cups, and other such things, were so new to them, that they asked if they were made of wood, but wished to have some, that they might carry them to be looked at on shore.  They were, in some respects, naturally well-bred; or, at least, fearful of giving offence, asking whether they should sit down, whether they should spit upon the deck, and the like.  Some of them repeated a long prayer before they came on board; and others afterward sung