After leaving Atiu, we were baffled and perplexed for several days by contrary winds. Our provisions were nearly expended, and our patience all but exhausted, when, early in the morning of the day on which we discovered the island, the captain came to me, and said, “We must, Sir, give up the search, or we shall all be starved.” I replied, that we would continue our course till eight o'clock, and if we did not succeed by that time, we would return home. This was an hour of great anxiety; hope and fear agitated my mind. I had sent a native to the top of the mast four times, and he was now ascending for the fifth; and when we were within half an hour of relinquishing our object, the clouds which enveloped its towering heights, having been chased away by the heat of the ascending sun, he relieved us from our anxiety, by shouting “Teie, teie, taua, fenua nei!” Here, here is the land we have been seeking! The transition of feeling was so instantaneous and so great, that, although a number of years have intervened, I have not forgotten the sensations which that announcement occasioned. The brightened countenances, the joyous expressions, and the lively congratulations of all on board showed that they shared in the same emotions; nor did we fail to raise our voices in grateful acknowledgments to Him who had graciously “led us by a right way.”