xxv iii INSTRUCTIONS. 
pass through the Straits of Sangar into the Sea of Japan, where you 
may spend as much time as is compatible with your arrival at the 
proper season in the Sea of Sooloo or Mindoro. 
Of this sea you will make a particular examination, with a view 
to ascertain whether there is any safe route through it, which will 
shorten the passage of our vessels to and from China. 
It is enjoined on you to pay very particular attention to this object, 
in order that you may be enabled to furnish sailing instructions to 
navigators. It may be also advisable to ascertain the disposition of 
the inhabitants of the islands of this archipelago for commerce, their 
productions and resources. 
Having completed this survey, you will proceed to the Straits of 
Sunda, pass through the Straits of Billiton, which you will examine, 
and thence to the port of Singapore, where it is probable you may 
arrive about the beginning of April, 1841, and where you will meet 
a store-ship from the United States. 
Having completed this service, it is presumed the objects of your 
enterprise will be accomplished, and you will accordingly, after re- 
ceiving your supplies at Singapore, return to the United States by 
the Cape of Good Hope, taking such a course as may be most likely 
to further the great purposes of the Expedition. 
During your stay in the southern latitudes, should the dysentery 
or any other fatal epidemic make its appearance among your crews, 
you have leave to proceed to the northward, until the disease shall 
either disappear, or be so mitigated, as to admit of the resumption of 
your surveys. 
The Department does not feel the necessity of giving any special 
directions for preserving the health of those under your command, 
confiding in your own experience, the care and precautions of the 
able surgeons with whom you are provided, and in the conviction 
you must feel, that on the health of your crews must depend the suc- 
cess of the enterprise. 
In the prosecution of these long and devious voyages, you will 
necessarily be placed in situations which cannot be anticipated, and 
in which, sometimes your own judgment and discretion, at others, 
necessity, must be your guide. Among savage nations, unacquainted 
with, or possessing but vague ideas of the rights of property, the most 
common cause of collision with civilized visiters, is the offence and 
the punishment of theft. You will therefore adopt every possible 
