183-2.J 
TWENTY-SECOND OF FEBRUARY. 
235 
CHAPTER XIV. 
Passage to the Strait of Sunda — Centennial Anniversary of Washington's Birthday 
— Patriotic Reflections — Enter the Strait — Prince's Island — Java Head — Flat 
Point — Keyset's Bay — Lampoon Bay — Rajah Bassa Peak — Hog Point — Mew 
Bay and Island — Pepper Bay — Anger Roads and village — Cap and Button — 
Bantam, or St. Nicholas' Point — Shores of Bantam — Beautiful Prospect — Bantam 
Hill, bay, town, and villages — Traffic with the natives — Perilous adventure of 
the Commodore — The Thousand Islands — Burial of the dead — The Potomac 
■anchors in Batavia Roads — Beacons in the Strait of Sunda. 
As stated at the conclusion of the preceding chapter, the Poto- 
mac left the coast of Sumatra on Saturday, the eighteenth day of 
February, eighteen hundred and thirty-two, and for four days after- 
ward was constantly tantalized with light and variable winds. Al- 
though at considerable distance from land, on the morning of 
Wednesday, the twenty-second, and within the usual range of the 
regular monsoon, the latter was found to be so much affected by 
the influence of alternate land and seabreezes, that the frigate 
was virtually deprived of the benefit of both. Hence, she was 
almost constantly becalmed, and the slightest breeze was hailed 
as a v^relcome visiter — all hands running on deck to meet it. 
Besides, this day, the twenty-second of February, eighteen 
hundred and thirty-two, was the centennial anniversary of the 
birth of Washington ! How many manly and patriotic hearts on 
board that gallant ship, were throbbing with fervid emotion, re- 
sponsive to the reflections which naturally suggested themselves ! 
— " What a glorious day is this, in our own country, where it is 
consecrated by patriotism, and hallowed by the gratitude of millions 
of independent freemen ! What multitudes are now met together, 
indulging in pleasing recollections of the past, and in fond anticipa- 
tions of the future ! A century! One hundred years ! What a little 
point in the annals of time ! — what a small space in the age of a 
nation ! What was our country, and what were we as a people one 
hundred years ago! What changes — ^what eventful vicissitudes 
have we passed through I If true to ourselves, what high des- 
tinies await us ! 
