May 23, 1859.] ADMIRALTY SURVEYS— JAPAN— AUSTRALIA— INDIA. 267 



Captain Bate in command of the Actceon, with her tender the 

 Dove, Lieut. Bullock, and his staff of surveyors, Messrs. Kerr and 

 Blackney, has greatly improved the chart of the Chu Kiang, or 

 Canton river, and Lieut. Bullock has recently explored the western 

 river for about 150 miles. In the Yang-tse-keang the surveyors 

 accompanied Lord Elgin in his exploratory voyage by Nankin to 

 Han-Kow, and availed themselves of the opportunity to make a good 

 eye sketch of the river for 150 miles as far as the city of Han- 

 Kow, an account of which the Society has received from Captain 

 Sherard Osborn, and on which I shall dilate in the sequel. Captain 

 Ward and his staff have also re-siirveyed the river from Wusung 

 to Shanghae, which will shortly be published. In the Gulf of 

 Pechili the Pei-ho has been ascended as far as Tien-sin, and a 

 survey, made by Monsieur E. Ploix, ingenieur-hydrographe of the 

 French nav}^, has been published by the Admiralty in two sheets, 

 on the scale of about 2^ inches to a mile. 



Japan. — Some additions to the United States' Survey of Yedo 

 bay have been made by Captain Sherard Osborn and Commander 

 Ward, and plans of this bay, of Simoda and of Hakodadi, have been 

 published by the Admiralty. 



Australia. — Captain Denham, with Lieutenant Hutchison and the 

 officers of H.M.S. Herald, have made a partial survey of Shark Bay 

 on the west coast ; they have also sounded the approaches to Port 

 Jackson, carried a track through the Coral Sea, correcting the sites 

 of the Cato and other banks, and discovered a dangerous rock at the 

 entrance to More ton Bay. The plan of Port Jackson, completed last 

 year, has been published, on the scale of 3t inches to a mile, also 

 the 2nd volume of the Australian Directory, compiled by Commander 

 C. B. Yule, comprising the east coast and Torres Strait, a valuable 

 boon to the mariner. Captain Sir Edward Belcher has re-examined 

 all the longitudes in the Eastern Archipelago, from Madras east- 

 ward, and has endeavoured to reconcile the discrepancies which 

 exist, not, however, such as to affect navigation, but far too great 

 for the present state of hydrography in other parts of the globe. 



Indian Survey. — The transfer of the government of India from 

 the East India Company to the Crown, and the opening up of a 

 trade to China and Japan, seems to be an occasion calling for a more 

 extended notice than usual of the state of the surveys in the East, 

 which have been made by the officers of the Indian Navy. Whether 

 these surveys will remain under the present direction, or be placed 

 more immediately under the Crown, is unknown to me ; but I am 



