1832.] 
Island st. fAtiL. 
161 ' 
When the British embassy to China, in 1792, with his excel- 
lency Earl Macartney as ambassador, touched at this island, they 
were not a little astonished to find it inhabited at the time by a 
small party, whom, on first sight, they supposed must be some 
unfortunate shipwrecked sailors. Such, however, was not the 
case. Though on so small an island, located in so vast a waste 
of waters, their exile was voluntary, nay, cheerful and lucrative — 
for they were busily engaged in the common prosecution of a 
voyage. It appears that they had come last from the Isle of 
France, being part of the crew of a sealing vessel, the joint prop-- 
erty of Americans and Frenchmen, and landed on St. Paul's for 
the purpose of remaining long enough to procure a cargo of 
twenty-five thousand sealskins for the Canton market. At the 
time the embassy touched at the island, they had resided there 
about four months ; and had already collected eight thousand 
skins, and were in hopes that in ten months more their whole 
cargo would be completed. 
This vessel, it seems, had been fitted out in the Isle of France, 
in the Indian Ocean, and had now gone to Nootka Sound, on the 
northwest coast of America, with the view of buying some sea- 
otterskins for the same market, intending to touch at St. Paul's 
on her return, for the skins collected during her absence. Thus 
it was intended to ply alternately between Nootka Sound, St. 
Paul's, and Canton, so long as the owners found the business 
lucrative. 
While our boat was absent at St. Paul's island, a strange sail 
was seen to the northward. A gun was immediately fired, and 
signal made for the return of the fishing party, who, in a short 
time, were alongside, with a plentiful supply of fish. The boat 
was instantly run up, and all sail set to come up with and speak 
the stranger, who proved to be the French brig Naide, Captain 
De Aliens, from Nantz, and bound to Batavia. 
From this date to the seventeenth, nothing occurred at all de- 
serving note. The wind had been variable, and the passage 
regular. After some squalls and flying clouds, the weather grad- 
ually cleared up, giving every indication of our being in the regu- 
lar tradewinds. This expectation, however, was not finally re- 
alized ,• as the winds continued, for many days, exceedingly 
variable, rendering the passage more tedious than we could have 
