140
VOYAGE TO THE SOUTH SEAS.
of the molie tree, wild mint tea, and a diet of turtle and teal ſoup, &c. Our boats traverſed all the lee-ſide of the iſle for ſalt, but without any ſucceſs; though they diſcovered ſeveral rills of freſh water. One of them proceeded from a bluff which forms the Eaſt point of the bay, and others were ſeen at the bluff at the Eaſtern part of the iſle. The latter were not examined, as the party did not land there; and the former was no more than ſufficient to fill a ten gallon cag in a quarter of an hour. As theſe high bluffs are at the extremity of the low land, the rills muſt proceed from ſome baſon or lake on the interior high grounds. One of theſe I afterwards found on a hill which I aſcended, from whence the water was entirely drained. On the coaſt of America, in the dry ſeaſon, I have ſeen a long ſucceſſion of lagoons of this kind, without the ſmalleſt drain on the beach below. The head of Stephen's bay poſſeſſes the convenience of a ſmall interior cove, with three fathom water, that will hold four or five ſail, and where they would be ſheltered from all winds. Alſo a fine ſandy beach beneath the rocks, on which a veſſel may be hauled on ſhore, or heave down if occaſion ſhould require it; and great abundance of turtles, mullet, and other fiſh might be caught in a ſeine. The turtles paſs over the rocks, at high water, into ſalt lagoons to feed. The land is ſo low in this part of the iſland, as,
