MANILLA AND SOOLOO SEA. 



305 



therefore the route to reach the Straits of Balabac, the entrance to 

 the Sooloo Sea, is by sailing over to the east coast of Borneo, from 

 the coast of China. The distance from the entrance of the strait is 

 30 miles. The tide is a great assistance when it is favorable, but its 

 flow is extremely irregular. It is high water at Pedro Branco at 11 

 a.m., full and change. The sailing directions of Horsburgh are so 

 minute, that it leaves me nothing to add, and to his volume I must 

 again refer. At Singapore, all the supplies that may be required can 

 be easily obtained. Since it became a free port, it has become the 

 great mart of the East, and is now sought by all the islanders in these 

 extensive seas, who trade with it, bringing their produce to market in 

 the native proas. 



On leaving Singapore, I preferred taking the route through the 

 Straits of Rhio, and to the east of Lingin. I was enabled to do this 

 with advantage to navigation. The commander of a Dutch brig-of-war, 

 Lt. Dittlof Jassen, on surveying duty in the Straits of Rhio, was obliging 

 enough to permit me to take a tracing from his chart, of a part of these 

 straits, which enabled me to ascertain its correctness, as well as to add 

 to it my own examinations : to it I would refer the navigator who de- 

 sires to pursue the route, which I believe is the shortest and best, both 

 to and from Singapore, when the monsoons will permit. After passing 

 the Strait of Rhio, the route by the Straits of Banca or those of Gaspar, 

 may be taken towards the Straits of Sunda. To Horsburgh's direc- 

 tions for these routes I have nothing to add, except to bear testimony 

 to their accuracy and prudent advice. 



I deem it unnecessary to give any further remarks connected with 

 the Hydrography of the places touched at by the Expedition. Table 

 Bay, at the Cape of Good Hope, is treated of in Horsburgh, and so is 

 the anchorage off James Town, at St. Helena ; besides, there are 

 many other works which give directions, much fuller and more com- 

 plete than my experience would authorize me to publish. 



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