26 United States Exploring Expedition, 



in the Philippines ; thence to Mindanao, and through the 

 Sooloo Archipelago, and the Straits of Balabac, to Singapore, 

 which place they reached in February of 1842. They pro- 

 ceeded thence by the Straits of Sunda to the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and passing by St Helena, the squadron arrived at New 

 York in June of 1842, having been absent from the country 

 about three years and ten months, and having sailed between 

 80,000 and 90,000 miles. 



The number of islands surveyed during the cruise of the 

 exploring expedition is about 280, besides 800 miles on the 

 streams and coast of Oregon, and 1500 miles laid down along 

 the land and icy barrier of the Antarctic continent. Nume- 

 rous islands of doubtful existence have been looked for, shoals 

 have been examined, reefs discovered and laid down, har- 

 bours surveyed, and many for the first time made known ; and 

 the latitudes and longitudes of the points visited have been 

 determined with all possible precision. Very many of the 

 doubtful points in the geography of the Pacific have been 

 cleared up, and the expedition is prepared to supply our navi- 

 gators with the most complete map of the ocean ever pub- 

 lished. 



Next to Oregon, the Feejee group may be considered the 

 most important of the unexplored regions visited by the squa- 

 dron. This group is a perfect labyrinth of lofty islands and 

 coral reefs, and many disastrous wrecks have already occurred 

 to our trading vessels in those seas. The islands are visited 

 for biche-da-mar,* tortoise shell, and sandal wood ; and there 

 is no part of the year in which there are not some Yankee 

 cruisers threading their dangerous way among its thousand 

 reefs. The whole number of islands in the group is about 

 150 ; one of these contains about 4000 square miles, and an- 

 other is but little smaller. They are rich and fertile, and 

 will one day rank first in the Pacific for resources, as they are 

 now first in extent and number. The harbours are numerous 

 and convenient. 



* The biche-da-mar is a kind of sea-slug, a sluggish, cucumber-shaped animal, 

 that lives about the reefs. It is boiled, and dried over a smoking fire, and car- 

 ried in ship-loads to the Chinese market, where it is esteemed a great delicacy. 



