PACIFIC AND BEERING’S STRAIT. 
447 
under water often assumes the character of that which is above, in which 
case a vigilant look out for rocks would here be necessary in rowing 
along the coast. At three miles distance from the land we had no May, 
bottom with 120 fathoms of line. 
After beating two days off Tobago Xima without being able to 
make much progress against the current, which on the average ran a 
mile and a quarter per hour, on the 10th, a change of wind enabled 
us to steer our course. We took our departure, from Samsanna, an island 
to the northward of Tobago Xima, situated, by our observations, nearly 
in latitute 22° 42' N., and exactly 8' west of the eastern extreme of the 
Little Tobago Xima. 
I intended, on leaving Macao, to explore the sea to the eastward 
of Loo Choo, particularly that part of it where the Yslas Arzobispo, 
the Malabrigos, and the Bonin Islands, are laid down in various charts. 
It was, however, no easy matter to reach thus far, and what with light, 
variable winds, and contrary currents, our progress was extremely slow, 
so that on the 15th, we found ourselves not far from the Great Loo 
Choo with a contrary wind. 
About this time it was discovered that the water we had taken on 
board at Macao was extremely bad, owing to the neglect of the com- 
prador in filling the casks, and as I had no object in reaching Kam- 
schatka for nearly two months, I determined upon proceeding to Napa- 
kang in Loo Choo. I was further induced to do this, on account of the 
longitude of the places we might meet between it and Petrapaulski. 
We therefore bore away to the westward, and in the evening saw the 
island bearing W. by N. ten leagues distant. 
The following morning we were close to the reefs by which the 
Island of Loo Choo is nearly surrounded, and steered along them to the 
Southward, remarking as we passed the excellent harbours which appear 
to be formed within them ; and planning a chart of them as correctly 
as our distance from the shore, and other circumstances, would permit. 
The sea rolled furiously over the reefs, which presented a most for- 
midable barrier to encounter in a dark night, but we were glad to find 
that this danger was lessened by soundings being found outside them, 
in a depth of water which would enable a vessel to anchor in case of 
