500 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



master's mate, all of the same .ship, were detailed for special duty as assistants. Tlie full 

 results of Mr. Chaplain Jones' labors will be found in his very interesting report in the 

 Api)endix. Suffice it here to say, that he found an abundance of coal, of excellent quality, 

 admirably situated for transportation from the mines to the Avater at very little expense ; and 

 that he had reason to believe that a considerable jsart of the island, around Kelung, at least, 

 was unilerlaid with coal. Several tons were purchased and brought away, though in the nego- 

 tiation the Formosans, high and low, showed themselves to be such adepts in falsehood and 

 cunning, that even the equanimity of the good chaplain was disturbed, and his really mild and 

 amiable spirit was roused to meet the prevarications of the chief mandarin, by bidding the inter- 

 preter say to him, " that he had trifled with us, had lied, and tried to deceive us from the 

 beginning, and that we would be trifled with no longer ;" and this, from the lips of Mr. Jones, 

 will appear to those who know his eminently peaceful temper to be terribly energetic language. 

 It may well be doubted whether he ever before told any body, in good wholesome English, that 

 "he lied ;" and yet the squadron, probably, did not contain a more resolute and fearless man. 



On the 23d of July, the Macedonian left Kelung, for Manilla, in the island of Luconia. 

 The Supply was ordered to remain, to take in the coal and sail, as soon as she could, for 

 Hong Kong. On this part of her voyage, the Macedonian encountered terrible weather, having 

 met with the border of a typhoon soon after getting clear of the northern shores of Formosa. 

 This providentially carried the ship very rapidly on her course to the southward of the south 

 end of the island before the tempest became so violent that she could not run. In the long 

 experience of Captain Abbott, (so he reports,) he never before encountered such weather at sea. 

 "We had," says he, "a constant succession of heavy, tempest squalls, with hard drenching rains, 

 some of them peculiarly severe and frightful in appearance. The ship suffered more, during 

 this short passage, in her sails and rigging, than on her whole passage out from the United 

 States." 



But this is emphatically the region for phenomena and convulsions of nature. The vessels of 

 the squadron had a varied experience in these waters. Some met typhoons and some suddenly 

 found themselves along side of marine volcanoes. It was within ten miles of Formosa that 

 Lieutenant Commanding Boyle, in the store-ship Southampton, when on his way from the 

 United States to join the squadron at Hong Kong, came near a marine volcano. He thus 

 describes it : "On the 29th of October, 1853, near the island of Formosa, I discovered a volcano, 

 distant from the land about ten miles, in a violent state of eruption, throwing out columns of 

 vapor to a great height, resembling in ajjpearance a similar phenomenon to which I was witness 

 some years ago on the coast of Sicily ; this, however, was of greater magnitude and force than 

 that, although no lava was visible by reason of the dense bank of vapor which hung around it. 

 The depth of water here is much greater than on the Sicilian coast, and hence my conclusion as 

 to the cause of not seeing lava. When last seen, at 3 p. m., it was in a lively state of activity, 

 and bore N.N.W., distant about ten miles. It was in latitude about 24° N., and longitude 

 121° 50' E. ; there was no sail in sight. 



"Shortly after passing the neighborhood of the volcano, we passed through a very heavy 

 over-fall or rip, so much so, that the executive oflScer and others, at first, supposed that there 

 were breakers. I had seen such an appearance before, and decided that it was, what it proved 

 to be, an effect of the volcano merely. On arriving, a few days afterwards, at Lew Chew, I 

 found that they had had a few shakes. ******* 



