PAUMOTU GROUP. 309 



conduct heretofore, and trusts that he will not have to regret the confi- 

 dence he reposes in them. 



Any acts inconsistent with these views, will meet with the most 

 exemplary punishment. 



(Signed) Charles Wilkes, 



Commanding Exploring Expedition. 

 July 13th, 1839. 

 United States Ship Vincennes. 



I had determined, on leaving Callao, to take up the examination of 

 the Paumotu Group, recommended to the Expedition by that distin- 

 guished navigator and promoter of science, Admiral Krusenstern, 

 whose notes were made a part of my instructions, and have been 

 already referred to in Appendix V. I therefore steered for the island 

 of Minerva, or Clermont de Tonnerre, one of the most eastern of the 

 Paumotu Group, or Cloud of Islands, as the name implies. I deemed 

 this to be the most interesting point at which to begin our surveys, and 

 the researches of our naturalists, particularly as it was inhabited, and 

 would thus enable us to trace the inhabitants from one end of Poly- 

 nesia to the other, across the Pacific. At the same time, it afforded a 

 very desirable point for magnetic observations, and a visit to it would 

 also enable me to settle a dispute between the two distinguished 

 English and French navigators, Captains Beechey and Duperrey, rela- 

 tive to its geographical position. The longitude adopted for Callao, 

 from which our measurements were made, was 79° 11' 10" W. This 

 I found to correspond well with that of Valparaiso, the meridian 

 distance between the two being 5° 31' 50". 



On the 14th we found the current setting to the northwest-by-west 

 three quarters of a mile per hour. 



The 15th, at one hundred and twenty miles from the land, we had 

 changed the temperature of the surface to 67°, being a difference of 7°. 

 At three hundred fathoms depth, it was found to be 51°. This day the 

 current was found setting south-half-east, half a mile per hour. 



The 16th brought several showers of rain, the first we had expe- 

 rienced since the 8th of June, off Valparaiso. Here we again tried the 

 current, but found none. I now continued the usual experiments on 

 the deep-sea temperature, dips, variation, currents, the visibility of a 

 white object in water, and the dip of the horizon, for which I must 

 refer the reader to the tabular results, only mentioning such as are 

 generally interesting. 



On the 1 8th, the surface water was 70°, and at two hundred and 

 ninety fathoms depth, 50°. 



On the 24th, in longitude 99° 39' W., we found the current setting 



