INTRODUCTION. X \[ K 



HAWAIIAN ISLANDS, TO MANILLA AND SINGAPORE. The diagram 



on Plate XX., page 670, exhibits the meteorological phenomena on this 

 passage ; it occupied us 82 days, including a stay of 10 days at Ma- 

 nilla, in the island of Luzon, and four days at Sooung, and the Mangsee 

 Islands, in the Sooloo Sea. It will be perceived that on entering 

 within the tropics, the barometer underwent the depression which has 

 been before spoken of, and that it continued throughout the voyage 

 between the above places, except as we approached, and while to the 

 windward of, the high land which bounds the entrance to the China 

 Sea. 



The temperature of the air during our passage to Singapore, varied 

 from 75 to 80, and that of the water, 76 to 82. After passing the 

 Marian or Ladroiie Islands, we lost the easterly trade winds, and 

 encountered variable winds till within five hundred miles of the Bashee 

 Islands, when we entered the northeast monsoon, at the entrance of 

 the China Sea. The period of our stay at Manilla was too short for 

 our observations to give us any reliable results. We found the mean 

 temperature of the air in January, 77'54, maximum 83, minimum 

 70; that of the water 80'18; and the mean standing of the barome- 

 ter 29-938 inches, its oscillation -140. I was in hopes I should have 

 been enabled to throw some light upon the climate of Manilla, having 

 obtained while there a meteorological register, kept by a Dominican 

 friar; but on examination it has proved so totally unworthy of confi- 

 dence, that I cannot venture to give it a place ; as an instance, I would 

 cite that it gives the oscillation of the barometer, during a single 

 month, equal to 2'100 in., its highest range being recorded as 30'460 

 in., and the lowest 28'3GO in. Were this but a single instance, I 

 might impute it to an erroneous entry ; but these are frequent, and 

 stated in the remarks as to the results of the month : this so far exceeds 

 any observations in the tropics hitherto recorded, that I cannot but 

 view the tables as a tissue of mistakes. The variations for temperature 

 also seem too great to entitle them to credit, the highest being 98, 

 the lowest 09, and this in the first spring month. Yet it seems 

 scarcely possible that any one should wish to falsify a record kept for 

 his own amusement ; charity would suggest that some of his assistants 

 were ignorant. The seasons, as in most tropical countries, are to be 

 divided into the wet and dry, which correspond with the periods of the 

 monsoons: the former with that of the northwest. The rains begin in 

 May, and cannot be said to cease till the middle or end of October. 

 The dry season comprises the remainder of the year. 



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