38 DEEP-SEA SOUNDING. 



Captain Johnstone, — and two American merchant-ves- 

 sels. It was pleasing to note how quickly the foreign men- 

 of-war followed the movements of the Enterprise in dress- 

 ing ship. A national salute had been fired at sea in honor 

 of the day about two hours before entering port, and our 

 flags bent on in readiness to hoist and dress ship with a 

 " rainbow " upon letting go the anchor. This was done, 

 and simultaneously the English man-of-war hoisted her 

 flags, dressing in "rainbow," and a moment later all the 

 French ships were covered with bunting. It showed 

 that the day was remembered, and that preparations were 

 made to dress ship as soon as an American man-of-war 

 was seen in the offing. 



Tamatave had been declared French territory and 

 was in a state of siege. At intervals during the day and 

 night the French men-of-war fired into the Hova camp, 

 about five miles distant from the anchorage. On the 

 night after our arrival a raid was made by the Hovas 

 upon the French troops occupying Tamatave, and a few 

 were killed on both sides. The relations between the 

 French and English were very much strained, doubtless 

 on account of misapprehension of each other's motives. 



Fresh provisions were very scarce, owing to the suc- 

 cessful efforts of the natives to keep their cattle inland. 



Having visited the three Americans who persisted in 

 living on shore — all others having left at the outbreak of 

 war— and learning fr6m them that they did not con- 

 sider their lives in danger on account of hostilities, I 

 left Tamatave on the 6th of July for the Comoro 



