EASTER ISLAND.

At 8 A.M., on 11th March, Easter Island was sighted from the masthead, and shortly after noon some of the gigantic statues mentioned in Roggewin's Voyages were clearly distinguished through the glasses. The position of the ship at noon had been fixed as 27 degrees 3 minutes South, 109 degrees 46 minutes West. Standing on and off till next morning, fair anchorage was found in thirty-six fathoms, but it proved too near the edge of a bank, and they were driven off it in the night. One or two canoes came out to meet them as they were working back, from which plantains were purchased, and Cook proceeded ashore, where he was immediately surrounded by natives; indeed, some even swam out to meet him. Many of them possessed European hats, jackets, handkerchiefs, etc., which they were said to have obtained from the Spaniards in 1770. Their language was very similar to that of Otaheite, and Odidie was able to understand them fairly well. There were no trees exceeding ten feet in height, and the land is described as extremely parched and dreary, though a few plantations were seen. Some remarkable pieces of stonework were noticed, enclosing small areas of ground, in some of which were the statues already mentioned. These were not looked upon by the natives as objects of worship, although they did not like the pavements by which they were surrounded being walked over, or the statues being closely examined. Mr. Forster regarded the enclosures as burial grounds, and the statues (portions of some of them are at the British Museum) as monuments to chiefs.

The water supply being found very bad, though Gonzales is said to have found good springs, and the fresh food for sale but scanty, the stay was cut short, and on 16th March sail was made for the Marquesas, discovered by Mendana in 1595. The next day, according to Marra, the fresh provisions obtained were served out to the crew at the Captain's expense:

"namely, two pounds of potatoes a man, and a bunch of bananas to each mess; and this without reducing their ordinary allowance; an act of generosity which produced its effect; it preserved the crew in health, and encouraged them to undergo cheerfully the hardships that must unavoidably happen in the course of so long a voyage."