INDIAN OCEAN. 221 



A rock, in latitude 20 south, longitude 167 45' west, not on 

 charts nor any published list; dangerous shoals in the neigh- 

 bourhood. 



Palmyra island is in 5 58' north, and 162 30' west longi- 

 tude. There is a dangerous reef thirty miles north, extending 

 eastnortheast and westnorthwest, very narrow, and fifteen miles 

 in length. 



Captain R. Joy, of Nantucket, reports a harbour in latitude 

 45 south, in West Patagonia, in which he found good and safe 

 anchorage. By proper surveys, he thinks it might be made a 

 place of refreshments for our whale-ships. 



I have generally remarked that all our seamen who have had 

 occasion to touch at any point on the west of Patagonia, agree 

 that the coast should be surveyed from Cape Horn to Cape 

 Pilares. They have often been sealing on the islands around this 

 coast, and all agree that very little reliance can be placed, by the 

 mariner, in the accuracy of the charts in common use. The 

 shores, in many places, are so bold, that a vessel may be made 

 fast to the trees growing on the land. 



Sidney's islands vary, on different charts, from 4 50' to 5 30'. 

 The northernmost is in latitude 3, and longitude, according to 

 Arrowsmith's charts, 176 50'. The islands are very numerous ; 

 some are very small, from two to three acres ; others larger, and 

 one twenty miles in extent. 



Again, the captains who have visited Tanning's island, say it 

 affords a good harbour, of four or five fathoms water, and abounds 

 in wood and water, both easily procured. The island is found, 

 by charts, in latitude 3 48' north, and longitude 158 40' west. 

 Good fish in the harbour and around the island, and peppergrass 

 on the island, good for the scurvy. 



The Kingsmills group, lying 1 south, and 175 30' east, con- 

 sists of a number of beautiful islands, all thickly inhabited. A 

 steady current sets westerly from this group. 



