INDIAN OCEAN. 231 



WASHINGTON CITY, February 1, 1835. 



SIR : As an officer of the United States navy, I cannot look 

 upon the efforts you have been making towards getting up an ex 

 pedition to the South seas with feelings of indifference. They 

 are noble, sir, and the design is worthy of them. I had the good 

 fortune to perform the cruise of the Potomac, under the command 

 of Commodore Downes, in which we circumnavigated the globe, 

 increasing our latitude from 40 north to upwards of 56 south ; 

 and, in this immense range of ocean, we were never once beyond 

 the reach, or in fact within some degrees of the limits of our wha- 

 ling and sealing interests. "While among the islands of the Pa-* 

 cine Ocean, and during a cruise of some 18 months on the west 

 coast of South America, I had numerous opportunities of observ- 

 ing the immensity of our whaling and other commercial interests 

 in those seas ; and alas ! of mourning (from the reports of number- 

 less merchants and whaling captains) over the imperfections of 

 our charts of those very regions now become the field of enter- 

 prise of those daring navigators. Newly-discovered islands are 

 yearly being made, and already a list of upwards of 400 has been 

 made. Some of these lists I have seen ; but they have, I believe, 

 some time since, been 'laid before the House of Representatives 

 by the untiring and highly-to-be-commended exertions of J. N. 

 Reynolds, Esq. I am well convinced, by practical knowledge, of 

 the utility of the proposed expedition, towards a thorough exam- 

 ination of those seas, for the preservation of our commerce and the 

 encouragement of our seamen engaged in a service already, per- 

 haps, the most dangerous of any, independent of unknown islands 

 and undiscovered reefs. 



Without entering into any learned or farfetched argument in 

 support of the existence of undiscovered land in high southern 

 latitudes, abounding in articles of commercial interest, allow me, 

 sir, to refer you to a communication made to the Royal Geo- 



