1832.] 
STRAIT OF SUNDA. 
249 
current with a light northeast wind, she at last came to an anchor 
in a bight formed by a low flat island and Crockatoa, about a 
league distant from them. 
The frigate did not leave her anchorage on Monday, the fifth, 
as there was no prospect of making any headway. A boat was 
lowered, however, and several officers went to try their luck in 
fishing, but were not rewarded with any very flattering success. 
They afterward attempted to land, but found it very difficult, as 
the whole island was surrounded by a coral rock. They at length 
reached the shore on a small sandy beach, where they procured 
some shells ; but the jungle was so thick that they could not 
penetrate twenty yards from the water's edge. Birds of ex- 
quisitely rich plumage were seen in great numbers ; and on firing 
a gun, the growling of tigers was thought to be heard but a short--^ 
distance from the party. The weather was pleasant on the 
frigate's deck, while over the shores the clouds hung low, and the 
rain fell in copious showers. 
The wind blowing fresh and fair on Tuesday morning, March 
the sixth, the Potomac once more weighed anchor, and " spread- 
ing her bellying canvass" to its impulse, stood to the northeast, 
passing Lampoon Bay at about ten o'clock, with a fine leading 
breeze, which came up the strait, and wafted her onward at the 
rate of nine miles per hour. She soon came up with and passed 
Thwart-the-Way, an island which the Malays call Pulo Renyang, 
lying in the nearest part of the strait, but somewhat nearer to 
Hog Point on its western side than to the Java shore. This 
island is moderately elevated, and about four miles in extent. 
Not far from this island, near the Java shore, are the Cap and 
Button before mentioned. 
As the frigate moved gracefully along the shores of Bantam, 
the western aspect of Java, as far as the eye could reach, opened 
on the view with a richness beyond conception, the land stretch- 
ing in the distance in alternate hills and valleys, clothed with 
luxuriant and variegated verdure. Numerous hamlets, surrounded 
by shadowing groves, appeared scattered over the undulating sur- 
face ; while tangled vines and creepers, laving their tendrils in 
the crystal stream, added new charms to the exhilarating picture. 
The hand of man had been here — of civilized, social man. The 
features of the country .proclaimed the fact — divided into square 
