68 



HYDEOGBAPHY. 



any hesitation in running in, provided a good lookout is kept from 

 aloft. The shoals and reefs are all laid down on the charts, and can 

 be easily avoided. 



FROM THE SOCIETY ISLANDS TO THE SAMOAN GROUP. 



Between the 29th of September and the 10th of October, 1839. 



Vessels bound to the westward should leave the harbor of Tahiti as 

 soon as the sea-breeze or trade reaches there ; this is during the fore- 

 noon, and when it is well advanced. If in the harbor of Papieti, it 

 would be better, from its being so far under the lee, to get under way 

 at an earlier hour, taking advantage of the land-breeze, which will 

 generally be found to extend beyond the sea-reef. The weather har- 

 bors and bays get the full force of the trade winds, which almost 

 constantly prevail. In standing to the westward, pass to the north- 

 ward of the Island of Eimeo. The trades generally blow fresh, ex- 

 cept during the months of November, December, and January, when 

 it would be advisable to take the route to the northward of the 

 Society Group, and get into a lower latitude, especially during the 

 above months, the summer of the southern hemisphere. When in 

 latitude 13° south, a course to westward may be pursued. 



The passage to the Samoan Group is usually made in 6 or 8 days ; 

 a distance of 1200 miles. The parallel of 15° south will avoid all 

 the islands and reefs. Between these two groups the winds will be 

 generally favorable, but there are exceptions, and bad weather is fre- 

 quently encountered. When we made the passage, in October, we en- 

 countered much rain, and winds from the northwest, south, and south- 

 west; but very little regular trade. The Peacock and Flying-Fish 

 made the passage 10 days later, and had very strong trades all the 

 way. It seems that little dependence is to be placed in the winds at 

 this season, to the southward of the parallel of 15°; indeed, I should 

 advise navigators to avoid the belt of ocean between the latitudes of 15° 

 and 18° south: the trades are not to be depended upon south of the for- 

 mer, nor is there any certainty of winds from the westward in any 

 season. Many anomalies seem to take place to the westward of the 

 Paumotu Group, although I am not inclined to believe that they can 

 arise from any influence that is exerted by that group, for, as I have 

 remarked, this same vacillation of the winds seems to exist between 



