May 24, 1858.] 
ADMIRALTY" SURVEYS— WEST INDIES. 
269 
the results of the reconnaissance by Capt. Page, of the U.S. navy, 
in his ascent of the Paraguay and Parana, published in America, 
have been immediately re-engraved and published at the Admiralty, 
in connexion with the former labours of Captain Sulivan, for the 
benefit of merchants and others desirous to open a trade with that 
rising and fertile country. New charts of Bahia and Eio de Janeiro, 
in Brazil, on a sufficiently large scale, from surveys by various naval 
officers, have also been recently published. 
The position of that dangerous coral reef As Rocas, lying off Per- 
nambuco, has been redetermined by Commander Selwyn, in H.M.S, 
Siren, and found to be in lat. 3° 51^' s. and long. 33° 50' w., just 
100 miles from the Island of Fernando Noronha, which agrees very 
nearly with the position assigned to this islet by Lieut. S. P. Lee, 
of the U.S. navy. A beacon, 33 feet high, painted black and white, 
has been erected on the western island ; and some cocoa-nut trees, 
planted in 1856 by Capt. Parish, are growing. 
The attention of the astronomical world is just now greatly 
attracted towards this portion of South America, inasmuch as the 
total eclipse of the sun of Sept. 7 will be visible in that country. 
The path of the shadow of the eclipse, about 30 miles in width, wall 
reach the continent on the Pacific side, a little to the southward of 
Payta in the state of Equador, in about 5° south lat., and curving in 
a s.e. direction across the interior of the country, will quit the coast 
near Santos, in Brazil, in lat. 25° s. nearly. Perhaps the best posi- 
tion for seeing it will be from the summits of the coast range of the 
Andes, near Payta, shortly after sunrise on the morning of the 
7th of September. It is with much gratification that I am enabled 
to add that the Admiralty, in the interests of science, have placed 
a steamer at Rio de Janeiro at the disposal of any bond fide astrono- 
mer who may be disposed to observe this rare phenomenon on the 
coast of Brazil. On the shores of the Pacific such aid is not neces- 
sary, as the regular mail steamer from Panama to Chile always 
touches at Payta. 
West Indies . — In this archipelago of islands, perhaps the most 
important work during the past year is the publication at the 
Admiralty of a chart of the island of Cuba, in two sheets, on the 
scale of one-tenth of an inch to a nautic mile. It is compiled partly 
from the surveys of Captains Owen and Barnett, r.n., but principally 
from the Spanish charts, corrected by the maps of Pichardo and 
Coello. Lieut. Murray, in H.M.S. Skipjack , has also recently fur- 
nished some positions on the south coast. The above is only a 
