246 COMMITTEE ON 



were named, but not visited, by Captain Cook, and consist of 

 sixty or more in number. Where shall we find charts of this 

 group, pointing out its harbours and dangers? There are none 

 to be found, for none exist. And yet, have we no trade there ? 

 We speak not for others, but for ourselves. 



" From this port, the following vessels have been, or now are, 

 employed in procuring biche-le-mer and shells at the Feejee 

 islands, in exchange for which eastern cargoes are brought into 

 our country, and thus contributing no inconsiderable amount to 

 our national revenue : 



" Ship Clay, brig Quill, have returned ; brig Faun, lost at the 

 islands ; ship Glide, Niagara, also lost ; and bark Peru greatly 

 damaged, and in consequence condemned at Manilla ; brig Spy 

 damaged, but repaired again ; brig Charles Doggett, bark Pallas, 

 brig Edwin, ship Eliza, ship Emerald, ship Augustus, and brig 

 Consul. 



" The Charles Doggett has recently returned, in consequence of 

 having a portion of her crew massacred by the natives. The 

 ship Oeno, of Nantucket, was lost on one of these islands, and 

 her officers and crew, consisting of twenty-four in number, were 

 all massacred, in like manner, except one. 



" Thus, it must appear to your honourable body, that the losses 

 sustained at this single point to say nothing of the value of 

 human life, which is above all price would not fall far short, if 

 any, of the amount necessary to fit out an expedition for the better 

 examination of such points in the Pacific ocean and South seas, 

 as require the attention of government." . 



In recurring to the memorials hitherto presented, and now on 

 file, your committee find them thus alluded to in a letter from J. 

 N. Reynolds, Esq., transmitting them to the honourable Andrew 

 Stevenson, at that time speaker of the house. [See document 209, 

 1st session 20th Congress.] The writer says : 



