APPENDIX. 



365 



tion Island. In case the expedition should extend 

 its exploratory researches to the northern hemi- 

 sphere, this doubtful point should be settled. 



XX.* Caroline Islands. These islands have been 

 so well surveyed by Captain Duperrey and Captain 

 Liitke, that there is very little now left to be done 

 concerning them. I shall, however, point out here 

 some islands that require to be determined with 

 great precision : 1. The island named by Captain 

 Morell, Fasolis, is most likely the same with Cap- 

 tain Liitke's, Farroilep ; but a difference of 21' in 

 latitude, makes this doubtful. 2. Island Lydia, on 

 Captain's Duperrey's chart. We do not know by 

 whom it has been discovered, nor who has deter- 

 mined its situation. 3. I have endeavoured to 

 prove, in my Supplementary Memoir of the Caro- 

 line Islands, that the islands Bordelaire, Fame, 

 Campbell, and the island St. Augustine, are one 

 and the same. This hypothesis requires to be 

 verified. 4. The Monteverde Islands ought to be 

 surveyed; what Captains Monteverde and Morell, 

 the only navigators who have seen them, have 

 said of them, is not sufficiently satisfactory. 

 5. We see on Captain Duperrey's chart of the 

 Caroline Islands, several islands, of which we 

 know nothing more than the name, viz. : Bum- 

 kay's, Quekin's, &c,, and their existence and posi- 

 tion remain to be ascertained. 6. The island of 

 Arrecifos has, so far as my knowledge extends, 

 been seen only by the ship Providence, in the year 

 1811. Not knowing much respecting it, it is to 

 be wished that it should be surveyed. 



XXL* Tlie Island of Gilbert. At the end of 

 my supplementary volume, I have pointed out 

 what remains to be done in order to have a perfect 



knowledge of all the islands belonging to this 

 archipelago. 



Remark. Independent of the American ex- 

 ploratory expedition, there are to be at the same 

 time three others in the South Seas : two English 

 and one French expedition. Many of the islands 

 will of course be visited by all the expeditions ; 

 and it is to be apprehended that their longitudes, 

 determined by the different astronomers of the 

 expeditions, will, perhaps, not agree so well as 

 might be wished. This difficulty will of course 

 be obviated, by referring their astronomical obser- 

 vations to the longitudes of such places as are 

 determined by absolute astronomical observations 

 with the greatest precision, and those most likely 

 to be visited by the ships of the expeditions. 

 The positions we have in the South Seas, are Point 

 Venus, in longitude 149 29' 1?" W., determined 

 by the passage of Venus over the disk of the sun ; 

 Port Honolulu, in the island of Oaho, by occulta- 

 tion of several stars, in 202 10' E.; and Port 

 Jackson, Sydney Cove, in 151 17' E., by an eclipse 

 of the sun. In the northern part of the Pacific, 

 East Cape, 190 16' 10" E., may be adopted as a 

 well-fixed point, although not determined by abso- 

 lute astronomical observations. With respect to 

 the coast of South America, Talcahuana, the longi- 

 tude of which was determined by Captain Beechey, 

 to be in 72 56' 59" W., seems to me a well de- 

 termined point. Captain Duperrey is not of that 

 opinion ; and it remains to be settled whether the 

 longitude of Talcahuana, or Valparaiso, in 71 33' 

 34" W., deserves the preference. 



KRUSENSTERN. 



St. Petersburg, January 26, 1837. 



c. 



TO CAPTAIN JAMES C. ROSS, COMMANDING H. B. M. SHIPS EREBUS AND TERROR. 



U.S. Flag-Ship Vincennes, 



New Zealand, Bay of Islands, 



April 5th, 1840. 

 MY DEAR SIR, 



I need not tell you how much 1 feel interested in 

 your cruise. From the interest you took in the 

 outfit of our expedition, I am sure you well know 

 the interest it excites, and how much this feeling 

 is heightened by a knowledge on my part of what 

 you have undertaken, and have to go through. This 

 prompts me to a desire to be useful to you if pos- 

 sible, and to give you my experience of the last 

 season among the ice, whither you are bound. 



Your cruise will be an arduous one, no matter 

 how you may be enlightened on your course ; but 

 you have so much knowledge of the ice, and the 

 manner of treating it, that it appears almost pre- 

 sumptuous in me to sit down to give you any hints 

 relative to it. But, believing as I do, that the ice 

 of the Antarctic is of a totally different character 

 from that of the Arctic, I venture to offer you a few 

 hints that may be useful to you in your undertaking ; 

 and although my instructions are binding upon me 

 relative to discoveries, I am nevertheless aware 

 that I am acting as my government would order, 



if they could have anticipated the case, knowing 

 how deeply it feels the liberal assistance and great 

 interest evinced by all the societies and distin- 

 guished men of Great Britain, to promote and aid 

 this, our first undertaking, in the great cause of 

 science and usefulness ; and I must add the plea- 

 sure it gives to me personally, to be able to return, 

 though in a small degree, the great obligation I 

 myself feel under to you, and many others, the 

 promoters of your undertaking. 



WINDS. The winds for the first fortnight of our 

 time, to the eastward of longitude 140 E., were 

 from the northward and westward, light generally, 

 accompanied occasionally with clear weather for 

 hours, and again with dense fogs of short duration, 

 with a long swell from the same quarter. 



After passing longitude 140 E., or to the west- 

 ward of it, we experienced fine weather, with 

 south-east winds and occasional snow-squalls, last- 

 ing but ten or fifteen minutes, and a dry healthy 

 atmosphere. 



The barometer, during our stay on the coast, 

 was always indicative of wind by its depression, 

 and was a true guide. Its mean standing was 

 28-in. The temperature surprised me : we sel- 



