Noon; moderate winds and fine, with much less sea; latitude observed 27° 23′ north. P.M. Moderate breezes and fine weather. Friday 2nd, A.M.---Moderate breezes and cloudy, with squalls and rain at intervals. Junk Loo-choo in company. Wind N.E. to N.N.E. Noon; ditto weather; latitude observed 28° 00′ north; wind north, north-east and east north-east. P.M. Throughout the twelve hours moderate breezes and fine weather. Junk Loo-choo in company. Saturday 3rd, A.M.---Throughout moderate breezes from north-east to north north-east, and a heavy swell. Daylight; several junks in sight; Loo-choo in company. 8h.--Saw Pata-he-cock island west north-west eight or nine miles. 10h.30'.-Bore up and took the junk Loo-choo in tow. Noon; tacked to the eastward; several junks in sight. Peak of Pata-he-cock W. S., eight or nine miles. Bluff Point, or North Extremes of the Quesan Islands, N.W. N.; latitude observed 29° 24′ north. P.M. Light N.N.E. winds, with a heavy swell and fine weather. Loo-choo in tow. 7h.20m.--Shortened sail and came to in seven fathoms, and furled sails. Cast off the junk. Buffalo's Nose W.b.S. Tree-top Island N.W.b.N. A brig in sight to the eastward. Midnight; strong northerly winds and cloudy. Sunday 4th, A.M. Strong winds from N.N.E. to N.N.W, and fine with strong puffs at times. 9h. 30m Weighed and made sail, working to windward for Groups Passage boarded the Spy brig opium trader. 2h. 30m. P.M. shortened sail, and came to under the Tree Top Island, in six fathoms and a half, to allow the junk Loo-choo to come up. Kee-too point, north 24° west, Tree Top Island, north 17° west, Tinker, south 66° west, Buffaloes Nose, south 14° east. Midnight: ditto weather, junk Loo-choo in company. Monday 5th, A.M. Strong N.N.E. to N.N.W. winds with severe puffs at times. 9h. weighed, junk in company, to work through Goughs Passage. P.M. Passage Island W.N.W. half a mile. Finding the junk gained a little ground, Capt. Barlow dispatched Lieut. Williams with an armed boats crew, to see her safe to the anchorage, and made all sail for Chusan. 3h. Shortened sail, and came to, between the Elephant and Deer Island. (Signed) J. J. B. BowMAN, Agent for Transports, Eastern Expedition. [We have copied the foregoing log verbatim, for the purpose of making a remark or two on it, and having laid down the positions of the vessel at noon of each day on the chart, both by observation and dead reckoning,—we have come to these conclusions. First, that the chronometer was of no manner of use, except to mislead. Secondly, that the two positions of the Indian Oak, by DR. and observation on the 12th, are above eighty miles from each other, the former making her have a course about south-east, and the latter about S.b.E. from the preceding day. Thirdly, that if the dead reckoning had alone been EN LARGED SERIES.-NO. 6.-VOL. FOR 1841. 3 E trusted, it would have been seen that the vessel was running directly for the islands, on which she was wrecked, and ought to have been on shore about twenty hours sooner! In a recent notice which appeared in the pages of the Nautical on the merits of Lieut. Raper's work, we made some home remarks on the stock of knowledge to be found in the masters of the thousands of British vessels constantly navigating the ocean, and we pronounced that stock to be but small; in many, just sufficient for the purposes of navigation, and in many others not even that. We moreover said, that to the latter class, "good charts themselves are of little avail, and the chronometer itself, however excellent, is yet to him who cannot fully avail himself of its advantages, frequently calculated to mislead." Certainly no assertion has been more completely verified than the foregoing. Of what use was the Indian Oak's chronometer, "but to mislead"? for it leads her to suppose that she is many miles to the westward of the islands, and even long after she was wrecked, places her 32' to the westward of them, while the latitude (see 19th p. 304,) is tolerably correct! We really do regard the loss of the Indian Oak, as far as navigation is concerned, as most discreditable to the merchant service, as fully confirming the observations we have made on the ignorance of the greater part of our masters of merchant ships, and adding another proof to shew the necessity of establishing that system of examination, of masters and mates of merchant vessels, so long talked of. Had it been a long and circuitous navigation, there might have been some allowance for the chronometer going badly, but here three or four days only elapse, sufficient to make a passage from one port to a group of islands, the position of which is well known, and the ship is clumsily cast away upon them, when she is supposed to be miles from them. But as for rating the chronometer, we much doubt that it was ever thought of. But it is grateful to turn from this subject to the treatment of our shipwrecked countrymen by the islanders in the midst of their disaster. Every possible assistance is given them to escape from the fury of the elements, and to nourish and protect them afterwards until they could be safely returned to their native land! Alas, how painful to contrast such behaviour with that experienced on our own shores, where it is too well known, that in place of protection, plunder is the order of the day! We say this is too well known, and notwithstanding our civilization, there is not that Christian character exercised generally on these melancholy occasions which prevails among the semi-barbarous natives of the Loo-choo islands, where the light of Christianity has not yet penetrated! The people of Loo-choo have indeed performed the part of the good Samaritan spontaneously, and we trust it will not be forgotten by Englishmen. By the way, how amply this confirms the character attributed to them by Capt. Hall, when he visited them in the Lyra long ago. The same kind attention was shewn to the Alceste and Lyra as to the shipwrecked mariners of the Indian Oak, and no return, as in the latter case, could they be prevailed on to accept. Indeed, how much is there which might be copied by civilized nations in the behaviour of the uncivilized people of the Loo-choo islands. We perceive another edition of the interesting narrative of the Voyage of the Alceste and Lyra has just been published by Moxon, of Dover-street, London, at an extremely moderate price. NOTES ON TRINIDAD IN 1803. By the late Capt. E. Columbine.* TRINIDAD is divided naturally into two distinct parts. A chain of lofty mountains extends along the whole of the north coast, upwards of The survey of Capt. Columbine was begun in January, 1803, for the use of government, by order of Commodore Hood, and was intended to have been continued round the island. But as war soon broke out again, the other more fifty miles, continuing inland four, five, and six miles; and the remainder of the island is low and apparently flat, with two inconsiderable ridges of hills running parallel to the north mountains; one in the middle, and the other some distance along the south coast. The greater part of the land which thus appears flat, is not so by any means, being much broken by small hills, which though steep and troublesome are not of sufficient size to prevent the whole appearing as one vast plain. With material occupations of the ship, and a long course of severe illness and bad health, rendered it impossible to complete them. The longitude of Chaguaramus was determined by seventy-nine lunar observations. These observations were checked or rather corroborated by the difference of longitude, which a time-piece gave from Barbados. The time-keeper gave for the difference of longitude, between Bridgetown and Chaguaramus 2o 8′ 30′′. As the uncleared state of the country rendered it impossible to throw a suite of large triangles over it, the other longitudes, particularly the length of the N. and S. coasts, were derived from that of Chaguaramus, by a well regulated time-keeper. The latitudes were taken by an astronomical quadrant. The stars have been principally used for this purpose, the instrument being always turned carefully round, with the same adjustment after observing a star in one hemisphere to observe another in the opposite one. Several stars were observed for each latitude. The number of feet in each mile of latitude were regulated as follows:: 56,763 toises; the mean of a degree at the equator, as observed by Ulloa, Bouguer, and Condamine. 57,037 toises; a degree of latitude at 33° 18' by La Caille. ditto at 66° 20' by Maupertius. Now, allowing that the toise is equal to 63959 English feet, a mile of latitude at 10' should be nearly 6059 feet. But as General Roy's calculation from Mons. Bouguer (Phil. Tran.), make it about 6048, that measure was preferred: in like manner the mile of longitude was taken at 5956 feet. The island had been previously surveyed in a certain degree by the Spaniards in 1793. The length of the four sides given by them differs very little from Captain Columbine's measurement; but their longitude is sixteen miles to the eastward of his. As they had a very great work to perform, (the survey of the Their declinations were taken from Professor Bede's catalogue. the exception of swamps, natural savannas, and ground in cultivation, one continued thick forest covers all the island, even the mountains from their utmost tops down to the wash of the sea. Many parts of it are absolutely impenetrable, but in general the woods are sufficiently open for sportsmen to go on foot in quest of the game with which they abound.* Several of the trees grow to a stupendous size; and if it was possible to get them to the sea shore the vast quantity of hard woods of different kinds, would prove a great source of wealth. But the difficulty of removing such heavy timber obliges the proprietors of estates, to let it remain where it falls, and rot there, (an operation which requires many years,) reserving only enough for their own mill-work and buildings. Large trees producing fine flowers, of a size proportioned to the parent stock abound here. In January and February, whole groves of Bois-immortel,+ planted by the Spaniards to protect their cocoa walks from the wind and sun are entirely red, between scarlet and bright purple. In March, the Pouie tree begins to unfold its beautiful blossoms, and in the following month is completely clothed in Gulf of Mexico,) they do not appear to have bestowed much time on the details of the coast of Trinidad. Mallet has enlarged his work from theirs, with some capricious alterations, but not by actual survey. His map being composed for government, it is necessary to observe, that many of the large branches of the rivers on it do not exist, and that the rivers themselves are greatly exaggerated. Hence a reduction of the inland navigation tends materially to alter the value of the land. As to his division of it into imaginary lots, it is extremely fanciful, and unless it was all equally fertile and level, can never serve as a guide for the allotment of it; which should be, in the first instance, adapted to the true course of the rivers. The principal dimensions are nearly as follow: Stat. Miles. The North side:-A right line drawn from the north-west point to The East side:-A right line drawn from Point Galere to the south of Point Galgota The South side :-A right line drawn from the east of Point Galgota to the west of Point Icaque The West side --A right line drawn from the south of Point Icaque to the north-west point in Boca Mono 531 481 65 491 The whole island (without reckoning the small ones) contains 2012 square statute miles: Mr. Mallet says 2400, a difference amounting to a fifth of the whole. It was difficult to account for this, as the extreme points which he has taken from the Spanish officers include nearly the same space as Capt. Columbine's observations have done. But, in examining his scales, it was found that he made ten British miles equal only to 6' 50" of latitude, instead of 8' 36"-4, which accounts very nearly for this great difference. In a country so extremely woody, it is not possible to measure all the heights of the hills precisely, without employing more time and labour than the subject demanded; yet the heights given are within a few feet of the truth. But at Gaspar Grande and Chaguaramus, where precision was necessary, the hills were measured both by a levelling instrument, and by the common trigonometrical mode. There are also Indian paths, leading in most directions across the island. The Pouie is a common forest tree, nearly as hard as lignum vitæ, brilliant yellow. Others again, produce flowers of various united colours and elegant forms. Three considerable rivers* run through this low part of the island, the Oropuche and Ortoire on the east coast, and the Carouni on the west, besides several small ones. But their beds are so much beneath the level of the sea, through the greatest part of their course, that they are nearly all salt in the dry season. In the wet season, the torrents of rain which pour into them force out the salt water, rendering them perfectly fresh. When the surveyors were on the east coast the rains had not begun, and the rivers were found to be salt, which distressed them for water at L'Ebranche, and they were obliged to send a boat nearly up to its source, a mile and a half, before they could get any. The next day rain fell, and the water became quite fresh down to its mouth. The Ostoire, which is said to run twenty-four miles into the country, is salt eighteen miles upwards in the dry season, but in the rainy season it is fresh at its mouth. The same is to be said of the others, which makes it evident that these rivers are supplied not from any springs, but from the rain which falls in the wet season, and which for some time after still supplies from the draining of the flooded woodlands, a little fresh water towards their source, whilst the sea occupies all the rest. Another evil attending these rivers is, that all their mouths are barred, except the Chagoune, and Aripo, small rivers, or rather wide salt-water ditches in the Gulf of Paria; to one of which it is proposed to lead the canal from the Ortoire, instead of leading it to the Carouni, the mouth of which is barred. The Ebranche also, emptying itself under the cover of a rocky hill, has very little bar. These remarks do not in the least apply to the rivulets which take their rise in the mountains. The mountains which lie along the north side are of themselves very fine and noble, and enclose many vallies equally beautiful and fertile. Those of Cueca and Diego Martin, are capacious and highly cultivated. Marival is some miles long, taking a winding course between the mountains from Port Spain to St. Juan. Much of this is in cultivation, and the whole of it is uncommonly picturesque. The land at the south part of these mountains is particularly rich, and it is proposed to lay it open by cutting a canal from the Oropuche on the east side to the Chagouane on the west. This, when executed, will be a most beneficial work, but as it will be very expensive perhaps the best way of getting it executed would be by giving grants of land on the banks of it, with the usual obligation to clear and cultivate, and an additional one to cut and keep so much of the canal in order. THE BOCAS. These are the northern passes into the Gulf of Paria, beween the west end of Trinidad, three islands lying off it and the coast of America. They were called Bocas del Drago by Columbus, (the Dragon's mouth,) from the velocity of the current which he found setting through them. This, however, is very various. In autumn when the Orinoco swells, at which season he passed them, its rapidity is Considerable in proportion to the island. Maraccas, the highest of them is 2947 feet above the level of the sea. † In 1498. |