easy and good, on the inside of the island, I sent the tender Flying-Fish thither, with Dr. Pickering and Lieutenant Underwood.

Pachacamac is one of the most interesting spots on this part of the coast, although it is said it will not compare with many others in various parts of the country, especially at Cusco.

They left Callao on the afternoon of the 28th of June, and were at anchor about midnight abreast| of the place. At daylight the surf was found so heavy as to render it dangerous to land in the whale-boat. By the perseverance of the officers, a raft was formed of the India-rubber mattrasses and oars; two balsas were also provided. Lieutenant Underwood made the first attempt, and paddled himself into the rollers, the first one of which threw him and the balsas end over end. Shortly after, the raft was seen bottom up, the oar broken, and the fragments sticking up in various directions; but he was missing. He soon, however, made his appearance at some distance, and just as he reached the raft, a second sea broke over him, and he again disappeared, apparently much exhausted. When the third roller broke over him, he was considered for a few moments as lost; and it was no small relief to see him crawling from the water up on the beach, a short time afterwards. The raft was now pulled back to the tender by the line. In consequence of the ill success of this experiment, it was determined to make a trial in the whale-boat, which succeeded without accident. Dr. Pickering and Lieutenant Underwood now proceeded to the temple. At the base of the hills, they found a few cabins of Indians, who stated that they had not chosen the proper place for landing.

The temple of Pachacamac, or castle, as it is called by the Indians, is on the summit of a hill, with three terraces; the view of it from the north is somewhat like that of the pyramid of Cholula, given by Humboldt, except that the flanks were perpendicular.

The whole height of the hill is two hundred and fifty feet, that of the mason-work, eighty; the form is rectangular, the base being five hundred by four hundred feet. At the south-eastern extremity, the three distinct terraces are not so perceptible, and the declivity is more gentle. The walls, where great strength was required to support the earth, were built of unhewn square blocks of rock; these were cased with sun-dried brick (adobes), which were covered with a coating of clay or plaster, and stained or painted of a reddish colour.

A range of square brick pilasters projected from the uppermost wall, facing the sea, evidently belonging originally to the interior of a large apartment. These pilasters gave it the aspect of an Egyptian structure. In no other Peruvian antiquities have pilasters been seen by us. On one of the northern terraces were also remains of apartments; here the brick appeared more friable, owing to a greater proportion of sand; where they retained their shape, their dimensions were nine inches in width by six inches deep, varying in height from nine inches to two feet; and they were laid so as to break joint, though not always in a workmanlike

manner.

The remains of the town occupy the same undulating ground, of less elevation, a quarter of a mile to the northward. This also forms a rectangle, onefifth by one-third of a mile in size; through the

middle runs lengthwise a straight street, twenty feet in width. The walls of some of the ruins are thirty feet high, and cross each other at right angles. The buildings were apparently connected together, except where the streets intervened. The larger areas were again divided by thinner partitions, and one of them was observed to contain four rectangular pits, the plastering of which appeared quite fresh.

No traces of doors or windows towards the streets could be discovered, nor indeed any where else. The walls were exclusively of sun-dried brick, and their direction, north-east and southwest, the same as those of the temple, which fronted the sea.

Some graves were observed to the southward of the temple, but the principal burying-ground was between the temple and town. Some of the graves were rectangular pits, lined with a dry wall of stone, and covered with layers of reeds and canes, on which the earth was filled in to the depth of a foot or more, so as to be even with the surface. The skulls brought from this place were of various characters; the majority of them presented the vertical elevation, or raised occiput, the usual characteristic of the ancient Peruvians, while others had the forehead and top of the head depressed. Eight of these were obtained, and are now deposited at Washington. The bodies were found enveloped in cloth of various qualities, and a variety in its colours still existed.

Various utensils and other articles were found, which seemed to denote the occupation of the individual: wooden needles and weaving utensils; netting made in the usual style; a sling; cordage of different kinds; a sort of coarse basket; fragments of pottery, and plated stirrups. They also found various vegetable substances: husks of Indian corn, with ears of two varieties, one with the grain slightly pointed, the other the short and black variety, which is still very commonly cultivated; cotton seeds; small bunches of wool; gourd-shells, with a square hole cut out, precisely as is done at present. These furnished evidence of the style of the articles manufactured before the arrival of the Spaniards, and of the cultivation of the vegetable products; when to these we add the native tuberous roots (among them the potatoe) cultivated in the mountains, and the animals found domesticated, viz. the llama, dog, and Guinea-pig, and the knowledge of at least one metal, we may judge what has since been acquired.

The embarkation of the party was attended with risk, but they all got on board the Flying-Fish without accident, and in a few hours they again reached the anchorage at Callao.

The results of my inquiries into the commerce and trade of Peru, are by no means satisfactory. The vacillating policy pursued towards the trade has been most extraordinary; and some of those engaged in commercial pursuits have frequently been enabled, through the necessities of the government, to reap many advantages. Much illicit trade was carried on, even before the revolution, under the Spanish rule. The restriction laid by its authority on commerce, kept the prices of imports high, whilst the low value of exports, left to the arbitrary demand of monopolists, prevented or diminished the means of these countries to pay for what they wanted from abroad.

make its appearance among us, and looked forward daily with apprehension to the hour when the sick reports were made. On the 14th my worst fears were realized, for the Peacock made signal that they had a case of that disease on board. It fortunately proved of a mild type, and no other symptoms occurred that left any doubt of the entire extinction of the contagion. I was, therefore, greatly relieved, as day after day elapsed, to be assured that we had not only escaped so dreadful a scourge ourselves, but that there was no danger of its being communicated to the islanders.

Being now about to enter upon a new field of observation, in which we should necessarily come much in contact with the natives, issued the following general order, to guard against any misdemeanours, and insure a correct deportment in both officers and men, during our intercourse with the islanders.

GENERAL ORDER.

The undersigned, commanding the exploring expedition, informs the officers and crews under his command, that as they are now about to visit the islands of the Pacific, and to have intercourse with their inhabitants, he wishes to inculcate on all in the squadron, that courtesy and kindness towards the natives, which are well understood and felt by all classes of mankind; and trusts that neither contempt of, nor interference with, their customs, habits, manners, and prejudices, nor arrogance over them, will be shown by any one belonging to the squadron; bearing always in mind, that savage nations have but vague ideas of the rights of property, and that theft committed by them has been the great cause of collision between them and civilized nations.

He would therefore enjoin upon all, great moderation in every thing respecting their intercourse with them, that no act of hostility will be committed, and that an appeal will be made rather to their good-will than to their fears.

That the manner of trading with them which will be established in the squadron, will be most strictly adhered to by all, and that in the event of difficulties or collision, all acts of force will be avoided, unless for self-protection; in short, our aim shall be peace, good-will, and proper decorum to every class, bearing constantly in mind, that the future intercourse of our countrymen with the natives of the islands we may visit, will very much depend on the impression made on their minds by us, and recollecting, that it is in the nature of the savage long to remember benefits, and never to forget injuries.

It therefore behoves us, wherever we go, to leave behind us, whether among civilized or savage nations, favourable impressions, not only as respects this national expedition, but of our flag and countrymen. The commander-in-chief feels a confidence in relying on the officers and crews to carry out these views, from their good and exemplary conduct heretofore, and trusts that he will not have to regret the confidence he reposes in them. Any acts inconsistent with these views, will meet with the most exemplary punishment.

I had determined, on leaving Callao, to take up the examination of the Paumotu group, recommended to the expedition by that distinguished navigator and promoter of science, Admiral Krusenstern, whose notes were made a part of my instructions. I therefore steered for the island of Minerva, or Clermont de Tonnerre, one of the most eastern of the Paumotu group, or Cloud of Islands, as the name implies. I deemed this to be the most interesting point at which to begin our surveys, and the researches of our naturalists, particularly as it was inhabited, and would thus enable us to trace the inhabitants from one end of Polynesia to the other, across the Pacific. At the same time, it afforded a very desirable point for magnetic observations, and a visit to it would also enable me to settle a dispute between the two distinguished English and French navigators, Captains Beechey and Duperrey, relative to its geographical position. The longitude adopted for Callao, from which our measurements were made, was 79° 11' 10" W. This I found to correspond well with that of Valparaiso, the meridian distance between the two being 5° 31′ 50′′.

On the 14th we found the current setting to the north-west-by-west three quarters of a mile per

hour.

The 15th, at one hundred and twenty miles from the land, we had changed the temperature of the surface to 67°, being a difference of 7°. At three hundred fathoms depth, it was found to be 51°. This day the current was found setting south-halfeast, half a mile per hour.

The 16th brought several showers of rain, the first we had experienced since the 8th of June, off Valparaiso. Here we again tried the current, but found none. I now continued the usual experiments on the deep-sea temperature, dips, variation, currents, the visibility of a white object in water, and the dip of the horizon, for which I must refer the reader to the tabular results, only mentioning such as are generally interesting.

On the 18th, the surface water was 70°, and at two hundred and ninety fathoms depth 50°.

On the 24th, in longitude 99° 39′ W., we found the current setting south-east half a mile per hour, and directly against the wind. Our latitude was 15° 35' S.

Until the 29th we had moderate breezes. The current this day was found east-north-east, onethird of a mile per hour. At 9 P.M. the wind came from the west. This evening we had a beautiful display of the zodiacal light. It was very bright; its altitude was 25°; the upper part of the cone was not well marked, and its apex was not defined; the breadth of its base was 30°. A fair breeze from the south-west continued all the next day, when we had reached the longitude of 113° 29′ W., and latitude 17° 36' S.

750

74

73

61

50

On the 5th, the current was two-thirds of a mile per hour, to the north-north-east.

The winds on the parallel of 18° S., cannot well be termed "the trades," for at this time of the year they will be found very variable, though prevailing generally from the eastern quarter, with a long swell from the south-west. The upper stratum of clouds were generally seen flying from the south-west. The deep-sea temperature on the 6th, at three hundred and fifty fathoms depth, was 46°, surface 77°.

The 7th proved a calm and fine day, throughout which experiments were made hourly to ascertain the depth at which a white object could be seen; the altitude of the sun was taken at each observation, and also the force and direction of the current. The temperature of the water at one hundred fathoms was 75°, whilst that of the surface was 77°. We were in longitude 125° W., latitude 18° 14' S.

The nights of the 8th, 9th, 10th, and 11th, the meteoric showers were looked for, the officers and naturalists keeping watch, each quarter of the heavens being under vision at the same time. On the 8th, upwards of one hundred shooting stars were seen; but the nights of the 9th, 10th, and 11th, were cloudy. On the former we had much lightning, thunder, and rain, with squalls from the south-west.

On the 13th of August, at five o'clock, P.M., we made Clermont de Tonnerre, or Minerva Island, and by careful observations the next day, found its south-east point to be in longitude 136° 21′ 12′′ W., latitude 18° 32′ 49′′ S. Clermont de Tonnerre, being the first low coral island we had met, naturally excited a great deal of interest. We had pictured them to ourselves as being a kind of fairy-land, and therefore looked for them with some anxiety. At first sight the island appeared much like a fleet of vessels at anchor, nothing but the trees being seen in the distance, and as the ship rises and sinks with the swell of the ocean, these are alternately seen and lost sight of. On a nearer approach, the whole white beach was distinctly seen, constituting a narrow belt of land, of a light clay colour, rising up out of the deep ocean, the surf breaking on its coral reefs, surrounding a lagoon of a beautiful blue tint, and perfectly smooth. This island was twelve feet above the level of the sea, and six hundred feet wide to its lagoon, and is composed of coral debris and vegetable matter. The shrubs are few, and not more than from twelve to fifteen feet high; the cocoa-nut palms and pandanus showing conspicuously above them. We found it, by our survey, to be ten miles long, by one and a half wide, lying in a west-northwest and east-south-east direction. The first sounding, on the east side of the island, at three hundred feet from the reef, was obtained in ninety fathoms (coral sand); at one hundred and eighty feet, eighty-five fathoms (coral sand); at one hundred and thirty feet, seven fathoms (hard coral), being at the edge of a nearly perpendicular shelf; thence to the shore the bottom was uneven, decreasing to four, three, and two fathoms, until a second or

Natives on the beach.

Conduct of John Sac, a New Zealander.

upper coral shelf arose, over which the water at high tide flowed. This extended to where the beach is composed of broken coral and shells, and arose on a gentle declivity to ten feet high.

The Peacock sounded within three-quarters of a mile from the southern point of the island, at three hundred and fifty fathoms, the lead brought up for a moment, and then again descended to six hundred fathoms without reaching bottom. When it was hauled up, it had a small piece of white and another of red coral attached to it. The west side of the island is a bare reef, over which the surf breaks violently. There is no opening or entrance to the lagoon.

For the purpose of surveying the island, the Peacock and Flying-Fish took the west side, while the Vincennes and Porpoise kept on the east. Boats were lowered and sent on shore for the purpose of landing; several of the officers and naturalists succeeded in reaching the beach, (swimming through the surf,) where they remained about two hours making collections.

As I

I saw some natives, five men and two women, and endeavoured to hold communication with them. The former were armed with long spears. They were cautiously watching our movements; and after the boats had left, they were seen examining the beach for articles that might have been dropped. Every inducement was held out to them to approach my boat, but without success; and we were obliged to return on board for the night, not having succeeded in finishing the survey. Wishing to communicate with the natives, and effect a landing, we lay-to, and by morning found that we had drifted off from the island eight miles to the north-west, and did not again reach our station until towards the afternoon. I then proceeded to the beach, taking with me as interpreter, John Sac, a New Zealander, who spoke the Tahitian language, determined, if possible, to enter into communication with the natives, and to land to make observations. Seventeen natives were now seen on the beach, armed with long spears and clubs, which they were brandishing with menacing attitudes, making motions for me to retire. approached them with a white flag flying, many more were seen in the bushes, probably in all about one hundred. I told John Sac to speak to them, which he did, and found he was understood. The only answer he could get from them was, several of them crying out at the same time, "Go to your own land; this belongs to us, and we do not want to have any thing to do with you." It was impossible to beach the boat without injury, on account of the surf and coral; and in order to land it was necessary to swim a short distance, which could not be done without our being attacked, and suffering injury, before we had established a friendly intercourse. I therefore had recourse to throwing presents to them,—all of which they eagerly took,-assuring them that we were friends; but they still continued warning us off, and threatening us with their long spears. I am rather inclined now to think our interpreter was partly the cause of my not succeeding in overcoming their fears and scruples. John Sac was truly a savage, although he had imbibed some feelings of discipline, and was generally a welldisposed fellow. He was a petty New Zealand chief at the Bay of Islands, and had resided some time

at Tahiti, where he said he was married. At times it was difficult to control John's movements. On this occasion he soon became provoked at the chief's obstinacy; and the idea of their receiving all our presents so greedily without even thanks in return, excited his native fire; his eyes shone fiercely, and his whole frame seemed agitated. Half naked as he was, his tattooing conspicuous, he stood in the bow of the boat brandishing his boathook like a spear, with the dexterity of a savage. It was difficult to recognize the sailor in the fierce majestic-looking warrior before us. The chief and John kept passing words until both were becoming vociferous, the one appearing as savage as the other. John's animated attitudes and gestures were the admiration of all. As we could not understand him, he may have said many things to irritate the savage chief before he could be silenced, although he afterwards declared his innocence in that respect. I had been engaged for upwards of an hour endeavouring to overcome their fears, when I was joined by several boats from the other vessels. The officers being anxious to have communication with the natives, were desirous of landing, and I readily gave them permission to do so without arms. They passed a short distance from us, hoping to effect their purpose without opposition; but the natives separated, in order to oppose any landing. One or two officers swam through the surf without arms, and were boldly set upon by three of the natives, when they made a hurried retreat. This evidently gave the natives confidence, and their conduct became more violent. Mr. Couthouy requested permission to land with presents, under the protection of the boat, to which I consented. He swam on shore, pausing now and then, for the purpose of showing the trinkets. The chief motioned him away, but he landed on the rocks. The chief retiring, appeared as if somewhat alarmed, while Mr. Couthouy advanced towards him, holding out the presents. On being joined by another native the chief stopped, raised his spear, and with a shout and distortion of countenance, made a pass at Mr. Couthouy, who at once dropped looking-glasses, trinkets, &c., at his feet, and quickly made for the boat. The savage took no notice of the relinquished offerings, but advanced to attack him with his spear. When he had reached the edge of the surf, the chief made another thrust at him, but fortunately without injury. This precipitate retreat gave them still more confidence; they now began throwing pieces of coral, numbers of which struck the men in my boat. I felt no disposition to do them harm, and yet I had no idea of letting them see and feel that they had driven us off without landing, well knowing, however, if a forcible landing took place, and they made resistance, that injury would befall one side, and probably both. I, therefore, thinking that they had no idea of fire-arms, ordered several blank cartridges to be fired; but they took no notice of them*. According to John Sac, they hooted at these arms, calling us cowards, and daring us to come on shore. I then fired a small charge of mustard-seed shot at their legs, which did

• I have since understood, however, that the poor natives have been fired upon by trading vessels engaged in the pearl-fishery, in mere wantonness, which will account for their hostile reception of us.

not produce any effect. Then Mr. Peale, who was near by me, was requested to draw his ball, and load with mustard-seed, which he did; and Lieutenant North likewise fired, which caused the chief and all the rest to retreat, rubbing their legs. The officers were now permitted to land, under strict injunctions, in order to avoid all contact with the natives, not to leave the beach. So much time had been lost before I could get the instruments safely on shore, that I found it too late to make the observations I desired.

The natives whom we saw appeared a fine athletic race, much above the ordinary size. Their colour was darker than that of our Indians, but their features resembled them. No tattooing was observed on the men, and the women were not seen close enough to distinguish them. The hair of the former was long, black, and straight. The chiefs had theirs drawn back, and tied in a knot behind; the others had theirs hanging loose. They wore a small maro made of leaves, and the chiefs a pandanus leaf around their necks, probably to distinguish their rank. The women wore a piece of tapa as a petticoat; they were not oiled, and the heads of some seemed filled with ashes or lime. They spoke and understood the Tahitian dialect. The only information obtained from them was, that vessels had before been there, but had gone away without landing.

Immediately on their being driven from the beach, a large column of smoke was seen, no doubt a signal to the other inhabitants of the island. After being on the reef half an hour, we joined our boats, and returned on board near sunset. One canoe was reported the next morning, as having been seen from the Peacock.

The number of inhabitants that we saw certainly did not exceed one hundred and twenty.

The common house-fly was found in great numbers at this island. A number of fish were caught; some shells, and specimens of most of the plants, were also procured.

After lying-to for the night, we, at daylight on the 16th, bore away for Serle Island, having first ascertained our distance from the point of Clermont de Tonnerre by triangulation. We then ran by the patent log for Serle Island direct, by which means we made the distance between the two islands, twenty-six miles and two-tenths. No signs of any other island exist between these two. This will, I think, settle the question between Duperrey and Beechey. The latter is undoubtedly wrong as respects the longitude of Clermont de Tonnerre, which he places some twenty minutes too far to the eastward, and, I doubt not, some accidental error has occurred in his observations; for I find, at Serle Island, Duperrey, Beechey, and myself, agree within a few minutes.

Serle is a low coral island, and has a large and very regular clump of trees on its western end, which, at a distance, might be taken for a mound or hill. Its length is seven miles, and its width one and a fourth. It lies in a north-west and southeast direction. There are but few inhabitants on it. The position of its south-east end is in latitude 18° 21' 10" S., longitude 137° 4′ 10′′ W.

The vessels again separated for its survey; boats were sent to trace the reef, and have communication with the natives, if possible. Before night we had completed our survey, and the boats re

F