236 
VOYAGE TO THE 
the salute without any omission, as the Loochooans covinted the guns 
as they were fired. 
.lurie, 
182G. 
A few hours after we parted with the T uscan, we fell in with two 
other whale ships, neither of which could spare us any provisions. These 
ships w ere no doubt fishing down a parallel of latitude, which is a com- 
mon custom, unless they find a continued scarcity of whales. The 30th 
degree I believe is rather a favourite one with them. 
Ten days after our departure from Oneehow W'e lost the trade wind 
in latitude 30“ N. and longitude 195“ W. ; it had been variable before 
this, but had not fairly deserted us : its failure was of little consequence, 
as in three days afterwards we w'ere far enough to the westward to 
ensure the remainder of the passage ; and indeed from the winds 
which ensued, a course might as well have been shaped for Kamschatka 
on the day we lost the wind. 
On the 3d of June, the day after leaving Oneehow, in latitude 25° 
N. and longitude 163° 15' W., we saw large flocks of tern and noddies, 
and a few gannets and tropic birds, also boneta, and shoals of flying-fish ; 
and on the 5th, in latitude 28° 10' N. and longitude 172° 20' W., we 
had similar indications of the proximity of land. Though such ap- 
pearances are by no means infallible, yet as so many coral islands have 
recently been discovered to the W. N. W. of the Sandwich Islands, ships 
in passing these places should not be regardless of them. On this day 
we observed an albatross ( diomedia exulans ), the first we had seen 
since quitting the coast of Chili. It is remarkable that Captain King in 
his passage to Kamschatka first met these birds within thirty miles of 
the same spot. We noticed about this time a change in the colour of 
the wings of the flying-fish, and on one being caught it was found to 
differ from the common exocatiis volitans. We continued to see these 
fish occasionally as far as 30° N., about which time the tern also quitted 
us. In 33° N. we first met the birds of the northern regions, the pro- 
cellaria pufjhms, but it was not until we were within a hundred miles 
of the coast of Kamschatka that we saw the lurnme, dovekie, rotge, 
and other alca, and the shag. The tropic birds accompanied us as far 
as 36° N. 
On the 18th and 19th, in latitude 35° N., longitude 194° 30' W-, 
