ARRIVAL IN NEW YORK 



the Sultan's hospitality, the pistol, which had been for a 

 moment laid down by the owner, disappeared. Wilkes 

 insisted upon its restoration, and after amusing cere- 

 monies on both sides, Dana's bowie-knife pistol was at 

 length secured and the incident was closed.* 



The mere suggestion provokes a smile that the " bowie- 

 knife pistol" of peaceful Professor Dana came near in- 

 volving the United States in battle. 



The squadron next came together in Singapore, 

 Wilkes and the Vincennes arriving there at the end of 

 February, and finding in the harbor the Porpoise, Oregon, 

 and Flying-Fish, which had come in about a month be- 

 fore. The homeward route was around the Cape of Good 

 Hope, and it included a visit to Cape Town, and another 

 to St. Helena. The Vincennes reached Sandy Hook, in 

 the bay of New York, at noon, June 10, 1842. 



I do not feel sure that any explanation of this long 

 record of explorations and adventures will be called for 

 by the reader, but if it is, let me say to him that the wide- 

 spread interest of our countrymen, just now, in everything 

 pertinent to the Pacific has led me to believe that they 

 would be glad to hear a forgotten chapter of nautical 

 history which contributed much to the glory of the 

 United States Navy and influenced in a noteworthy de- 

 gree the lives of at least three distinguished men of 

 science. 



* Wilkes, Narrative, vol. v., p. 339. 



