HYDROGRAPHT, PAST AND PRESENT. 237 



the cold Peruvian current renders the temperature pleasanter here than it 

 is at a distance from the coast, but during the wet season ' it pours,' says 

 old Dampier, ' as out of a sieve.' 



Before leaving Panama, let us reflect upon the advantage to English 

 commerce of continuing the survey, begun by Sir Henry Kellett, from 

 Guayaquil to Cape Pillar. The trade of this part of South America has 

 enormously increased since the introduction of steam. The enterprise of 

 the Pacific Steam Navigation Company has diverted the trade from the 

 Isthmus of Panama towards the Strait of Magellan, and this new stream 

 of travel and commerce has been so successful that the Company's fleet of 

 magnificent steamships is barely sufficient to meet the demands upon it. 

 In 1874, 524 voyages on the coast and 124 to Europe, were made by the 

 various steamers of six different companies. 



Looking northward from Panama, there is much work to be done. 

 The rising trade of the Central American ports calls for more attention to 

 coasts of which we have little information since the days of Malaspina in 

 1794. A partial survey of the coast and Gulf of California has been made 

 by officers of the United States Navy, who are, I believe, about to extend 

 their operations to the southward. 



In the North Pacific our chart of that important group, the Sandwich 

 Islands, is said to be ' from various but imperfect authorities,' and some- 

 thing better than this is required in 1879. We may also notice that Queen 

 Charlotte Island is only explored. 



Leaving Panama, we pass the Galapagos, where nothing is imme- 

 diately required, and come next to the Low Archipelago, where the three 

 symbols are blended. Here we find that the ocean roads followed by 

 vessels from Panama and Valparaiso, through dangerous patches of coral, 

 are sadly in need of repair. 



After touching at the beautiful and famous Tahiti, we pass through 

 the Friendly Islands and our new colony of Fiji, rejoicing to see Lieutenant 

 Moore hard at work with his smart little schooner, for reliable charts are 

 much wanted here to clear away doubtful dangers. 



Readers of Dickens will remember how Quilp, when despatching 

 Sampson Brass home one night in what sailors call a pea-soup fog, con- 

 ducts his guest to the door, and tells him the way lies through a lane in 

 which there is a savage dog, who generally lives on the right-hand side, 

 but at times conceals himself on the left ready for a spring. He cautions 

 Brass to take great care of himself, blows out the light, slams the door, 

 and leaves him. "What a splendid hydrographic official Daniel Quilp 

 would have made ! To tell a man there is a rock in a certain passage, 

 and not to tell him where it is, is virtually to block up that passage, and 

 the caution is of little use except to some comfortable official, who, if 

 anything happens, is able to look wise and say ' I told you so.' 



After calling at Sydney, where we hear that the coasts of New 

 Zealand are still unfinished, we find that the islands and dangers in the 

 much-used routes between Australia and China are a constant source of 

 anxiety, and it is not until we are northward of the Caroline Islands that 

 our captain is able to go below and take off his boots, in which for some 

 time past he has been obliged to sleep. 



After visiting Hong Kong and Singapore, we pass through the 

 Malacca Strait to the Indian Ocean, impressed with the idea that the 

 Magpie and Sylvia have got their work cut out for them in those great 

 seats of industry China and Japan. 



