130 EXPEDITION TO JAPAN. 



Their fruits were not ripe, and they had recently supplied the whale-ships with all the pigs they 

 could spare, which have heen hut few since the Russian squadron was there, in July and Au- 

 gust. The fowls of the Shanghai breed with which you furnished the settlers are rapidly mul- 

 tiplying, and they will soon have chickens and eggs to dispose of. The sheep you left on Sta_ 

 pleton island, I was informed, were doing well, and that a second generation had been pro- 

 duced — i. e. , the first lambs brought forth there had also had lambs. All I could learn respect- 

 ing the cattle was, that the bones of one of the bulls had been found. Since which, none of 

 them had been seen, but some of them had been heard lowing. It was supposed that one of the 

 bulls, in fighting with the other, got pushed over a precipice, from the situation of the bones 

 that were found, and the circumstance that they began fighting soon after being put on the 

 island. It is seldom that any of the settlers go to that part of the island on which the cattle 

 are placed. I intended to go and look after them myself, but the bad weather and other cir- 

 cumstances did not permit of it. 



On my passage to Port Lloyd, I fell in with three American whale-ships, from two of which 

 I obtained a small quantity of sperm oil. The day I left, one arrived from which I got a good 

 supply for the Macedonian, and two casks containing 287 gallons for the use of the squadron, 

 which are now stowed upon the forecastle. The oil cost $1 25 per gallon. 



My surgeons have either visited or prescribed for all the sick on board the whale-ships with 

 which we have had communication. They also visited the sick at Port Lloyd — there being a 

 number of sick men left there from whale-ships, upon one of whom they performed a surgical 

 operation, and left him in a fair way of recovery ; but for their timely aid and assistance, the 

 man could probably never recover. 



I left Port Lloyd, Peel island, in the afternoon of April 28th, the day you named. Our return 

 passage has been characterized by nothing of particular interest except the discovery of a singu- 

 lar monumental-looking rock, several hundred feet high, which is not laid down on any of our 

 charts, and which bears S. f E., distant 54 miles from the island of St. Peters. The master's 

 monthly report will contain particulars in relation to it. 



All which is submitted by yours, most respectfully, 



JOEL ABBOT, 

 Captain U. S. JV. 



Commodore M. C. Perry, 



Commander-in-chief U. S. naval forces, East India, China, and Japan seas. 



ARTICLES OP AGREEMENT 



OF THE SETTLERS AT PEEL ISLAND. 



We, the undersigned, residents and settlers on Peel island, in convention assembled, wishing 

 to promote each other's mutual welfare by forming a government, have ordained and estab- 

 lished the following articles, which we solemnly bind ourselves to support for the period of 

 two years : 



Article I. 

 The style of our government shall be " The Colony of Peel Island." 



