MISCELLANY. UNITED STATES EXPLORING EXPEDITION. THE Vincennes corvette, the flag ship of the United States Exploring Squadron, which has been engaged for the last four years in the Pacific and Antarctic Oceans, arrived at New York on the 10th of June. The other vessels of the squadron are expected daily. We have from time to time given accounts of the more prominent operations of this squadron, as they have reached us.* The results of its voyages and the labors of its officers are such as to reflect great honor on those who were engaged in it, and to answer the high expectations which have been formed of it. The expedition sailed on the 18th of August, 1838; the different vessels composing it have been unremittingly engaged in its duties during the intervening four years. Several of the principal groups of islands in the Pacific Ocean have been visited, examined, and surveyed; a friendly intercourse and protective commercial regulations established with the chiefs and natives; aggressions on our citizens and commerce redressed, and a justly merited punishment meted out in some flagrant cases of unprovoked and coldblooded murder. The positions assigned on the charts to several reefs, shoals, and islands, have been carefully looked for, run over, and found to have no existence in or near the places assigned to them. Several islands not laid down in the charts have been discovered, on one of which the natives offered worship, evidently believing that their visiters had come from the sun. The Sooloo Sea has also been examined, several islands found to have been erroneously laid down upon the charts, and others not to have been laid down at all. Protective commercial regulations have been established with the Sultan of Sooloo, and a correct chart made of a feasible and short route for passing through those seas for China, against the northeast monsoon. The expedition, during its absence, has also examined and surveyed a large portion of the Oregon Territory, a part of Upper California, including the Columbia and Sacramento Rivers, with their various tributaries. Several exploring parties from the squadron have examined, and fixed the positions of those portions of the Oregon Territory which were least known. A map of the Territory, embracing its rivers, sounds, harbors, coasts, forts, &c., has been prepared, which will furnish the * See Monthly Chronicle, Vol. I. pp. 210, 239, 287, Vol. II. pp. 31, 394, Vol. IIL p. 91. government with a mass of valuable information relative to its possessions on the Northwest Coast, and the whole of Oregon. Experiments were made with the pendulum, on “Mouna Loa or Roa," on the Island of Hawaii, one of the Sandwich Islands, at a height of fourteen thousand feet above the level of the sea. Topographical surveys and views were made of some of its active and most extensive craters. Experiments have been made with the pendulum, magnetic apparatus, and various other instruments, on all occasions where useful results could be obtained; the temperature of the ocean, at various depths, ascertained in the different seas traversed, and full meteorological and other observations kept during the cruise. By far the most interesting discovery of the expedition, is the great Antarctic Continent, the northern coast of which it coasted for a distance of several hundred miles. We have before given the details of this interesting discovery, so far as they have reached our government, in the report of Captain Wilkes, [Mon. Chron. Vol. I. pp. 210, 287, Vol. II. p. 394,] illustrated by a chart of the Antarctic regions, on which the discoveries of the expedition, as well as those of Captain Ross, are delineated. It will be recollected, that Captain Ross's discovery, in a more southern latitude, of an eastern coast of what is probably the same continent, was made in the ensuing season. The chart in Vol. II. p. 392, shows the routes of both the English and the American, as well as that of the recent French expedition. There is not, as has been sometimes implied, the slightest contradiction in the narratives of the several commanders. To Captain Wilkes and his associates belongs whatever credit arises from making the earliest and most extensive discoveries. None of this Antarctic region has been landed upon, except a small island discovered by Captain Ross. Charts of all the surveys of the squadron have been made, with views and sketches of headlands, towns or villages, &c., with descriptions of all that appertains to the localities, productions, language, customs, and manners. At some of the islands, this duty has been attended with much labor, exposure, and risk of life; the treacherous character of the natives rendering it absolutely necessary that the officers and men should be armed while on duty, and at all times prepared against their murderous attacks. On several occasions, boats have been absent from the different vessels of the squadron, on surveying duty, (the greater portion of which has been performed in boats,) among islands, reefs, &c., for a period of ten, twenty, and thirty days at one time; on one of these occasions, two of the officers were killed at the Fiji group, while defending their boats' crew from an attack by the natives. The scientific gentlemen have been actively engaged in their various departments, and subject to all the exposures incident to researches among dangerous and hostile savages. Mr. Hale, the philologist of the expedition, was left at the Columbia River, for the purpose of prosecuting his labors among the different tribes of the Oregon territory. He arrived home before the rest of the expedition, having crossed the continent. In addition to the large collections already received from the expedition, the Vincennes has now on board a large and valuable collection, including several boxes of live plants, bulbs, &c., collected in the Pacific, Sooloo, at the Phillipines, Singapore, Cape of Good Hope, and St. Helena. Although the officers and crew of the Expedition have been exposed to every variety of climate, the general health of the squadron has been without a precedent. But one officer, (Mr. Vanderford, master's mate, who died on the passage home,) and only eight of the men, have died from disease. Besides the great Antarctic Continent, the Expedition examined or surveyed the following ports, reefs, and islands: Ports visited.-Madeira, Port Praya (Cape de Verde), Rio Janeiro (Brazil), Valparaiso (Chili), Callao (Peru), Sydney (New South Wales), New Zealand, Manilla (Laconia 1.), Singapore, Cape of Good Hope, St. Helena. Reefs, shoals, &c., looked for, and not found. - St. Ann's Shoal, Maria Rock, Bonio Felix Shoals, Bonetta Shoals, Hartwell Reef, Patty's Overfalls, Warley Shoals, French Shoal in two positions, Triton Bank, Vigia, Bowvett's Sandy Isles, Submarine Volcano at Kraisenstene. ISLANDS SURVEYED, WITH THE HARbors. Low Archipelago.- Clermont Tonnerre Island; Serle's Island; Minerva; Hondens; Wyhite; Otookoo; Kings; Raraka; Vincennes; Carlshoff; Waterland; Wilson and Peacock; Rurick's Chain; Prince of Wales; Krusenstern's. Society Islands. — Maitea; Otaheite and harbors; Eimeo; Bellinghausen; Rosa. Navigator Group. - Manucah; Lutuella; Upolu; Monoko; Aposimo; Savaii; Wallis's Island; Horn; Lord North's; Macquarie's; Eooa; Tongataboo; Harpai; Turtle. Fiji Group.-Fifteen Islands and fifty Reefs, viz.: Tulanga Island; Angea; Nambus Angea Bank; Angasa Island; Namulka; Morambo; Engrasso; Cambia; Komo; Mothe; Karoni; Oloma; Oneata; Avia; Lakemba; Bacon's, 2; Reed's, 3; Nean; Tubutted; Yeaki; Hatafouga; Vanderford; Verna Ballan; Susui; Manea; Sicombia; Olohu; Muago; Hanathea; Molucio; Ohembon; Nartomba; Zelangula; Chielia; Vatala; Namko; Oneholafrango; Onuminsio; Houlelavon; Oretena; Lavatala; Kenobid; Iac; Lomo Somo; Budd; North; Maury; Holmes, De Haven; Oranibi; Okid; Lortoai; Maola; Nanai; Angasa; Gora; Batika; Vanul Levu; Morna Orna; Malee; Vakai; Maeona, 2 Islands; Direction, 4 Islands; Horse Shoe Reef; Ovalaw Island; Moro; Neniau; Passage; Ono; Kantavu. Passed Midshipman's Group of Islands, ten in number.-G. Endua; Botuman; Mallana; Benga; Nuanoka; Vita Levu; Flying Fish Reef. Midshipman's Group of Islands, four in number. Maton Island; Malolo. Waldron Island; Speedin; Palmer; Peny; Alden; Case; Johnson; Carr; Walker's; Emmons. Knox Island; Davis Island; Baldin's Island; Totten's Island. clair; Fox Island; Eld; Naviti; Nagetta; Matatha Valle; Otoason; Nanoga; Nadora; Orana; Ya Asalana; Ya Asana; Ya Roin; Mimbora; Naola; Vendola; Tavia; Muthauata; Kinsuna; Round; Angrajas; Gera; Chicobia; Nugulou; Corabia; Maselou; Annan; Beoia, 2 Islands; Gardner's Island; McKean's; Hull's; Sydney; Taber; Washington, or New York Island; Jarvis's; Enderby's Bennie; Duke of York; Duke of Clarence; Bowditch; Swain's; Ellen's Islands, or Group; Endua Islands; Tracy's Island seen; Depeyster's Island discovered. Kingsmill Group. - Drummond's Island; Bishop, or Sydenham's; Woodle's; Hendervill's; Hull's; Simpson's; Knox; Charlotte; Mathews; Pitt's Island, 2; Mulgrave; Arrowsmith's; Daniels; Peddar's Pescadores; Karsakoff, 2 islands. Sandwich Islands. -Oahu; Kaui; Hawaii; Maui. Ladrones. Wakes; Guam; Assumption. Sooloo Islands and Sea; Mangsee; Straits of Balback, Balanquay, Rhio, Banca, Sunda, Casper; Bourbon's Island; Hunter's; Barney; Favorles; Luis; M'Kennie's; Straits of Barandena; Vasquez Island; Pylstaarts; Sunday. Rio Negro; Cape Horn; Orange Harbor, &c. Columbia River, (surveyed to the cascades and falls, 120 miles.) Straits of Juan de Fuca; Puget Sound; Nasquolly; New Dungenness; Classett Harbor, and all the harbors in that vicinity. These surveys were made while the expedition was engaged on the western shore of the Oregon Territory. It also examined the harbor of San Francisco and the River Sacramento, in Mexico. In the first few days of our residence at Pekin, we experienced so much inconvenience from our European clothing, that we made all possible haste to exchange it for the costume of the Chinese. Fortunately for us, no one here need trouble himself with the care of what he shall put on, and wherewithal he shall be clothed, a thing that disturbs so many a head in the more intellectual capitals of Europe, for the truly paternal or maternal government of China releases its subjects even from this anxiety. The wonderfully complex Chinese wardrobe, with all its divisions and subdivisions, is subjected to certain rigid and invariable laws, and not to the ever-changeful caprices of fashion. The vicissitudes of the seasons determine the regular periodical changes of dress, and they are observed with the same punctual obedience, as the dictates of the fickle deity by the fair "lionnes" of Paris or London. There is no room either for the feeling of irreverent mirth, with which we are some times disposed to regard the cut of our grandfather's coat, for grandfather, father, and son, are all habited in garments of the same fashion, and an Imperial proclamation announces to the lieges of the Celestial Empire when the time has arrived for exchanging the costume of spring for that of summer, and that again for what befits the autumn. One point, however, has been left unguarded. Like Achilles, they are vulnerable in the heel, and the fashion of shoes is continually varying. We no sooner found ourselves equipped in full Chinese costume, as by law established, than we sallied forth in a small hired chaise, to gratify our curiosity with a sight of Pekin. We drove past the palace of the Emperor, who, however, only passes the winter here, but the spring, summer, and autumn at a country residence twelve miles off the capital. The town palace occupies an immense space, and consists of a vast assemblage of houses of one story high, covered with tiles. Each of these is separate, and has its particular destination. In one, the Emperor lives; in another, transacts business; a third is the residence of the Empress; a fourth of the widow of the deceased Emperor; a fifth contains the concubines of the reigning sovereign, a sixth those of the departed one; others are inhabited by their children, eunuchs, and attendants in countless swarms. Each house is surrounded with a high wall, within which none may enter without permission. These are again inclosed in one general wall, the gates of which open only to the courtiers, and the outer inclosure alone is free to be entered by the public. The shining yellow tiles covering the roof of the palace were all we were destined to behold of it; and turning away after this scanty gratification, we drove through a street which, like all the principal ones, was distinguished for breadth and regularity, but none are paved. In the middle of every main street, the earth is thrown up to the height of about three feet, for foot passengers and light carriages; those heavily laden, and drawn by from five to seven mules, must pass along the narrow paths at the side next the houses; but when, after heavy rain, these become filled with impassable mud, even heavy vehicles are allowed the advantage of the raised road, which, being broad, would be convenient enough, were it not hemmed in by tents and booths, encroaching so much on the pathway as scarcely to leave room for two carriages to drive abreast. When the Celestial Majesty goes out to take a drive, which happens several times during the year, these booths are all cleared away, and the road smoothed and covered with yellow sand, that the inconveniences of the streets of the capital may not be experienced by its ruler. The immense population of Pekin occasions the streets to be filled the whole day with an uninterrupted succession of vehicles, proceeding in two lines in opposite directions, and it sometimes happens that the whole procession is brought to a stand-still by nothing more than a question of politeness. If a Chinese, when driving, meets an acquaintance on foot, he must necessarily dismount from his carriage, let the weather or the dirt be what it may, inquire after his friend's health, and invite him to enter the equipage. The pedestrian is, of course, equally bound to reciprocate the inquiries, and to entreat the first to pursue his way. The |