We saw many huts close to the beach, usually three or four together, forming small villages.

They appeared to be long and low, resting on the ground, with an opening at each end, and an arched roof thatched with palm-leaves.

The most picturesque situations were chosen for these hamlets in the shade of the coconut-trees, and about them we could see numbers of children, but no women were made out, and most of the men were fishing on the reef.

At one place we observed what appeared to be a portion of cultivated ground; a cleared sloping bank above the shore exhibited a succession of small terraces, with a bush-like plant growing in regular rows.
June 14th.
In the morning we found ourselves so far to leeward of the opening seen last night, with a strong breeze and a considerable head sea, that the attempt to work up for it was abandoned, and we kept away to the westward to look for an anchorage.
PIRON ISLAND.
We then ran along the northern side of Piron* Island, which is five miles in length, and one and a half in breadth, of moderate elevation, and sloping gently towards each extreme.

It exhibits a range of low grassy hills, with smooth rounded outline, a straggling belt of wood--often mangroves--along the shore, patches of brush here and there in the hollows, and on the hilltops, scattered along the ridge, a few solitary tall bushy trees with silvery-looking foliage.