PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 203 



The highest point of Loo Choo which we saw was 

 a hill situated at the back of Barrow's Bay, in about 

 the latitude of 26 27 N., answering in position nearly 

 to a mountain which appears on the chart of Mr. Kla- 

 proth, under the name of Onnodake. The height of 

 this mountain is 10(S9 feet. The next highest point to 

 this, which was visible from the anchorage, was the 

 summit of the hill of Sumar, on which the capital is 

 built ; the highest point of this is 540§ feet. Ab- 

 bey Point is 98^, and a bluff to the northward of Pot- 

 soong 99|: feet. The Sugar-Loaf (Ee-goo-see-coo) was 

 too far distant for us to determine its height ; but I 

 think Mr. Klaproth is wrong in saying it may be seen 

 twenty-five sea leagues, as our distance from it was 

 only ten leagues, and it was scarcely above the hori- 

 zon.* It is certainly not so high as Onnodake, which, 

 to a person at the surface of the sea, would be just vi- 

 sible at the distance of thirty- four miles. He is also 

 mistaken in supposing it the only peak on the island. 



These heights appear to be gained by ascents of mo- 

 derate elevation only. In no part did we perceive any 

 hills so abrupt that they could not be turned to ac- 

 count by the agriculturist. The centre of the island, 

 or perhaps a line drawn a little to the westward of it, 

 is the most elevated part of the country. Still the 

 island is not divided by a ridge, but by a number of 

 rounded eminences, for the most part of the same ele- 

 vation, with valleys between them ; so that when view- 

 ed at a distance the island appears to have a very level 

 surface. In a Chinese plan of Loo Choo all these 

 eminences are occupied by palaces and by courts of 

 the king. The higher parts of the island are, in gene- 

 ral, surmounted by trees, generally of the pinus mas- 



* Klaproth's Memoires relatifs k I'Asie, torn. ii. p. 173. 



