64 
YELLOW SEA. 
to be of A schistose structure. I examined the soil brought up by 
the anchor in their neighbourhood, and found it to contain ten per 
cent, of lime ; the residue was clay coloured with iron. Early in the 
morning of the 27th, we passed between two of them in twelve 
fathom water, entered the gulf of Pe-tchee-lee, and anchored on 
the 28th in five fathoms, fifteen miles from the mouth of the Pei-ho. 
The Lyra, which had been sent a-head on the 25th, to announce our 
approach, had anchored in three fathoms, only six miles from the shore. 
The height of the barometer varied very little during our voyage 
from Hong-kong, but the thermometer and hygrometer underwent 
frequent changes. The former, which generally stood at noon in the 
bay of Hong-kong at 85°, fell gradually by the 27th to 74°, but rose 
after our entrance into the bay of Pe-tchee-lee to 83°. The hygro- 
meter whilst the S. W. monsoon prevailed, indicated a saturated state 
of the atmosphere, but suddenly marked a diminution of moisture 
whenever the wind changed to the north. This was strikingly exem- 
plified on the morning of the 26th, when I observed Leslie’s hygro- 
meter, which for three days had stood at zero, rise to 30°, and on 
looking at the direction of the wind, I found that it had changed 
from south-west to north. A similar change in the hygrometer also 
took place, even when the northerly wind was accompanied by a 
heavy fall of rain. Thus, at noon on the 24th, the wind being S. W. a 
large mass of clouds came up with wind from the northward, and dis- 
charged themselves in heavy rain. * During its fall the hygrometer, 
which had previously been below zero, rose to 6°. I can perhaps give 
llo better notion of the excessive moisture of the atmosphere in the 
China seas during the S. W. monsoon, than by stating that Leslie’s 
hygrometer is not graduated to a sufficient extent to mark its degree, 
that our clothes were as wet as if they had been exposed to a smart 
shower of rain, and that no metallic instruments, however packed, 
were secure against its penetrating influence. 
* The barometer at the same time rose eight lines. 
