286 SAN FRANCISCO TO MANILLA. 



tude 155° 19' E., latitude 18° 21' N. This position was passed over, 

 but the inquiry resulted as the others had in a fruitless search. 



I now bore away for Grigan, the northernmost of the inhabited 

 Ladrone or Marian Islands, which we made on the 29th December, 

 at 7 a. m., bearing south-southwest. As we approached these islands, 

 we had experienced a strong current to the northward and westward; 

 and the wind had also veered to the southward and westward. 



At midnight, we discovered the island of Assumption, bearing 

 northeast-by-east. 



The island of Grigan appears to be about eight miles in width, 

 seen from the north, and has the form of a dome. Its height, by a 

 very unsatisfactory observation, was two thousand three hundred feet. 

 It was my intention to stop and make it a magnetic station ; but the 

 weather appeared so thick as to threaten delay ; and this I could ill 

 afford, so I gave up the idea. 



There is said to be no other settlement than one small village, on 

 the southwest side of Grigan, where a few individuals dwell, and I 

 understood that they were headed by an American; its shores are 

 almost perpendicular, and it has no coral reefs to form harbours ; so 

 that in this respect it is not so much favoured as the southern isles of 

 the same group. The passage between Grigan and Assumption is 

 free from dangers, and I am well satisfied that no shoal exists where 

 Freycinet has laid down the Mangs, for we passed directly over the 

 locality, and saw nothing of the kind. The Mangs were seen in their 

 true position, to the northward of Assumption. 



The wind was light and variable. On the 1st of January, 1842, it 

 changed to the southwest ; with this change of wind we experienced 

 a fall both of the thermometer and barometer, and excessive damp- 

 ness ; we had some lightning, and at midnight a violent squall with 

 rain burst upon us, attended by a shift of wind to the northward and 

 westward, which afterwards hauled to the northward and eastward. 

 A slight current was felt setting to the eastward. 



We now steered for the most eastern position assigned to Copper's 

 Island, as it will no doubt be recollected that we ran over its supposed 

 position in west longitude, on the passage between San Francisco 

 and Oahu, mentioned in the first part of this chapter. On the 4th, 

 we ran over the position in longitude 131° 54' E., and latitude 20° 

 11' N. The Abajos Shoal of Arrowsmith has no existence: its posi- 

 tion was passed over in broad daylight. 



