6 



THE PASS OF MAYAGUANA. 



great abundance. They have already secured a long lease 

 of the lands, or mountains, rather, on which the mines lie, 

 and speak of their speedy and complete success with entire 

 confidence. 



The first land we made after taking leave of the heights 

 of Neversink, was the point of Mayaguana, about 1,200 

 miles from New York. A dangerous coral reef, which 

 projects from the island, gives this point some consequence, 

 as it has been more fatal to navigators than any other, I 

 believe, among the West India Islands. 



It is a striking illustration of the triumphs of modern 

 navigation, that Captain Wilson was able to calculate his 

 courses with such accuracy, for a distance of four hundred 

 leagues, as to come within half a mile of the point towards 

 which he laid the course of the ship, when he took his 

 last departure from Bamegat, We fortunately reached it 

 during daylight ; had we arrived in the night, we should 

 have been compelled to lie-too till morning, the channel 

 is so narrow and tortuous. In passing it from the south, 

 the captain says, on his return voyage, he always keeps on by 

 night or day, for he is enabled to get a " departure," so 

 recently, from the headlands of St. Domingo, that in the 

 absence of all currents, he can navigate the passage with- 

 out difficulty ; but in coming from the north, owing to the 

 variety of currents which one encounters in the Atlantic, 

 it is impossible for the navigator to calculate his position 



