20th May 1898

FRIDAY

Weighed anchor at 6am and stoppedof Rosia Granville & communicated with shore we proceeded on till we came across the Reef Islands some twenty miles North, these Islands are small low coral patches not more than fifty feet above the level of the sea, they lie in a mass of reefs a large reef extending right around the group making it very dangerous for navigation, during the afternoon we annexed a small island Matema the natives were very pleased giving us fish and Coca Nuts, having hoisted the flag we made our way East coming to anchor between some Islands belonging to the same group, here we was surrounded by natives trading with shells, chickens, pigeons and several other things, the natives here seemed to understand English much better than those of Santa Cruz Group, no doubt the missionaries had made better progress with their flock.