90 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



ing N. Collins, and the tender Fennimore Cooper, Lieutenant Com- 

 manding H. K. Stevens, by the way of the Straits of Sunda and Gas- 

 per, the Carimata and Billeton passages, and the Sooloo sea. Their 

 arrival at Hong Kong was reported by Commander Ringgold early in 

 June, 1854. 



During the absence of Commodore Perry, with the greater part of 

 the East India squadron, at Japan, the civil war raging in China, and 

 particularly in the vicinity of Canton, so alarmed American citizens 

 holding valuable property in that region, that Commodore Ringgold 

 considered it proper to suspend temporarily the special duties to which 

 he was assigned, and render protection to his exposed countrymen ; so 

 that he failed to accomplish a large portion of the surveys that had 

 been planned f^r the year. 



The expedition has, however, again resumed its scientific duties with 

 important results. Several large collections in natural history have 

 been sent home, and others are on the way. Captain Ringgold having 

 returned to the United States, the squadron is in command of Captain 

 Rodgers. 



Exploration of the Parana and its tributaries, hy the steamer Wafer Wilch^ 



This surveying steamer, under Lieutenant Commanding Thomas J. 

 Page, left Washington in January, 1853, lor the Parana, having as an 

 object the survey of this great river and its principal tributaries. Cap- 

 tain Page was provided with a complete outfit of apparatus for natural 

 history collections, together with a skilful horticulturist, whose business 

 is the gathering of live specimens of the most interesting plants. A 

 good many valuable seeds have already been sent home. The vessel 

 arrived at Buenos Ayres on the 25th of May, but was detained for" 

 some time in consequence of the internal dissensions of the country, and 

 the necessity of protecting the interests of American citizens ; and it 

 ^^as not until the 7th of November that Captain Page was permitted to 

 leave Ascension to proceed up the river. A small steamer of very 

 light draught, was taken out by the Water Witch, in order to pursue 

 the exploration into waters too shallow for the larger vessel. This 

 vessel has been engaged since her arrival in Paraguay in making the 

 intended explorations, as well as in protecting American interests in 

 that quarter, and the collections made and sent home have added much 

 to our knowledge of the natural history of the country. 



Expedition of Lieutenant MacRae, United States Navij. 



At the termination of the observations of the United States naval 

 astronomical expedition in Chile, Lieutenant MacRae was instructed by 

 Lieutenant Gilliss to cross the Uspallata pass of the Andes, and the 

 pampas of the Argentine confederation, for the purpose of ascertaining 

 the law of decrease of magnetical intensity with elevation, the atmo- 

 spheric condition of the higher Andes, the geography of the principally 

 travelled route between Mendoza and Buenos Ayres, and other im- 

 portant facts interesting to men of science. He succeeded in making 

 observations for all the magnetic elements at stations differing in eleva- 



