406 SIR RODERICK I. MURCHISON'S ADDRESS. [xMay 25, 1857. 



cruizing ship. It is gratifying to be able to state, that a thoroughly 

 equipped surveying vessel, the Actaeon, accompanied by a small 

 steam tender the Dove, under command of Lieut. Bullock, has 

 sailed for those seas, and as soon as the present unfortunate difier- 

 ences with China are settled, Captain Bate will resume his survey 

 on such parts of the coast as most require it. In the meantime, 

 Messrs. Richards and Inskip in the Saracen will proceed forth- 

 with to make a detailed survey of the dangerous shoal As Pratas 

 (lying only 60 leagues to the e.s.e. of our own colony at Hong 

 Kong), with a view to the construction of a lighthouse upon that 

 extensive coral reef which has caused the wreck of so many vessels. 



Siam. — The chart of the Gulf of Siam has been materially improved 

 during the past year. Messrs. Eichards and Inskip have visited 

 Bangkok, where they experienced great attention and assistance 

 from the enlightened ruler of that country ; they have rectified the 

 positions of several islands and of many of the headlands and capes 

 on the western as well as on the eastern shore of the gulf. 



Tartary. — Farther north on the coast of Tartary the officers of one 

 of our cruizing vessels, the Barracouta, have examined a harbour, 

 which they have named after that ship, and in which the Russian 

 frigate Pallas had taken refuge. This capacious harbour is the 

 same as that called Imperadorski Gavan, or Port Imperial, by the 

 Russians, and lies about 130 miles south of Castries Bay. 



In the Admiralty chart of these regions the whole course of the 

 Amur has been laid down from the astronomical observations made 

 by Peschurof in 1855, which render the river quite a new feature in 

 our maps. The details of these observations are given in the 

 ' Morskoi Sbornik,' or Russian Nautical Magazine, for March and 

 May, 1857. They are also to be found in that excellent geographical 

 periodical, ' Mittheilungen,' edited by Dr. A. Petermann at Gotha. 



New Zealand. — The publication of the detailed charts of the coasts 

 and harbours of this group of islands advances rapidly ; the past 

 year has produced four coast charts, on the scale of 4 miles to an 

 inch, and 11 plans of harbours and rivers, including Auckland, 

 Waitemata, Taupanaa, Whangaroa, Hokianga, &c., being a portion 

 of the ten years' labour of Captains Stokes and Drury, with Messrs. 

 G. Richards, Frederick J. 0. Evans, J. II. Kerr, &c., and we 

 trust that before the close of the next year every item of infor- 

 mation we possess of these islands will be in the hands of the 

 mariner. 



Pacific Ocean. — Captain Denham in the Herald continues his 



