TROM GUAHON TO ST. HELENA. 269 



Manilla. The Governor visited us to-dav ; we ex- 

 pressed to liim our gratitude, and, on leaving the 

 Rurick, he was saluted by fifteen guns. Captain 

 Guerin, of the French sliip Eglantine, wished to 

 follow me to the strait of Sun da, as he had no 

 chronometer on board, without which the Chi- 

 nese Sea is dangerous. I therefore acquainted 

 him with the necessary signals, and we both left, 

 on the 29th, the beautiful and fertile island of 

 Luconia. 



The 3d of February. The fine weather and a 

 fresh N. E. monsoon had hitherto favoured our 

 voyage ; at nine o'clock Pulo Sapata lay distant 

 from us fourteen miles due west, and the chro- 

 nometers gave for the longitude of this island 

 251*00' 6". In the evening the sky was covered, 

 dark clouds announced a stormy night, and the 

 gusts of wind became so violent, that we were fre- 

 quently obliged to take in the sails. 



The 6th. At four o'clock Pulo Aor appeared 

 in S. W. 25°, twenty-two miles from us. The 

 Eglantine had remained so far behind that we were 

 obliged to wait four hours for her, with the top- 

 sails reefed. I now tried to pass Magellan's shoal 

 and Gasper Island to the west, not to come into 

 Gasper Strait, which appeared to me more con- 

 venient and safe than passing it to the east, as 

 many mariners do. 



The 8th, at six o'clock in the morning, we crossed 

 the line in longitude 253° 9'. We saw to the rioht, 



