consider it advisable ever to pass between it and Classet Island unless bound into or out of Neah Bay, and then only with a good commanding breeze.

The latter, or northern cape, is situated in lat. 48° 33′ N, and long. 124° 12′ W.; it is one of the south-western projections of land of the Island of Vancouver, and also forms the east point of the entrance of Port St. Juan. There is nothing to encourage a descriptive account of it, more than being a plain low bluff, and like the whole south-western face of the island, is thickly wooded with pine, cedar, and oak trees; many from their stupendous size must be the growth of ages. I think its position is admirably adapted for the erection of a light-house.

I should recommend all strangers when bound into the straits after they have made both capes, to get into a mid-channel course, steering about E. S. until the centre of Classet Island bears anything to the westward of S.S. W., then an E. N. course will take you up off Rocky Point, (which is the most south-eastward projection of the Island of Vancouver, off which are many rocks above water. The largest of them is about the size of the hull of a ship of about 200 tons, and is the southernmost of the whole group,) and sufficiently to the northward to clear the shelving ground off False and New Dungeness. Should you be bound for Port Victoria, and from the direction of the wind have to borrow on the north shore, be sure to give those rocks a berth of at least half a mile, for the tide here runs very strong and irregular. From the outer or southern rock, the mouth of Victoria bears N.N.E. E., about 11 miles distant. It has a dangerous rock lying off it, covered with only 11 feet of water, and bears from the south-eastern point of the harbour about south 500 fathoms. I know of no good anchorage without the harbour, the land being steep to and bottom rocky. Her Majesty's sloop Modeste, in September, 1844, anchored in 35 fathoms water, about ore mile S. E. from the inouth of the harbour, and N.N.E. E. from Rocky Point.

Being abreast of Rocky Point, and bound for New Dungeness, steer S.E. E. to S.E.b.E., depending on the direction of wind and set of the tide, and having reached within sight of the Ness, being the eastern end of a remarkable belt of pine trees, which extends the whole length of the southern side of Dungeness Bay, bear a little to the southward of S.S.E., which will clear you of a long shelving spit of sand, extending about of a mile north, from the extreme point of Dungeness Spit, over which the tide runs very strong, and produces a dangerous race for boats. Run on that bearing until within the bay, and when you have brought the extreme point of Dungeness Spit to bear, from N.b.W. to N. W,, you may then haul up for the head of the bay, and anchor in any depth, from 7 to 4 fathoms, good tough holding ground.

The best position for a small vessel to anchor in, is about a quarter of a mile from the north side of the bay, with the extreme point of the sandy spit bearing from N.N.E. to N.E. in from 5 to 4 fathoms water.

There is excellent water to be had from a small river in the S. W. part of the bay, where you can enter your boats at half tide and fill the

casks in the boat. Potatoes, salmon, and a great variety of fish, are brought by Indians to barter for clothes. Whale and salmon oils are also offered in small quantities.

The Indians here are not unlike those at Cape Flattery, the men have a wild and savage aspect, are of middle stature, and somewhat robust, their complexion tawny, their only covering a small plaited grass fringed apron, round their loins. The women present a soft and mild appearance, and not of an uninteresting complexion; they have a pleasing tone of articulating words of their language, and were it not for the deformity of the upper part of their heads, which are flattened when infants, they would be symmetrically formed. They are blessed with a bewitching risibility of expression, which is seldom displayed with more becoming modesty by an enlightened race. Their dress is simply a fringed belt, made from the fibres of the inner part of bark of the white cedar, worn round the loins.

The climate, I think, is in no way insalubrious at any season of the year, the distant country is exceedingly mountainous, many of the highest peaks (particularly Mount Baker) are capped with perpetual snow; whilst there are many extensive plains, clothed with exuberant pasture, where numerous herds of elk and deer are found. The dense forests of pine, cedar, oak, yew, maple, poplar, ash, willow, alder, elder, and hazel, are the abiding places of the bear, panther, wolf, fox, racoon, lynx, and squirrel; whilst the lakes and rivulets abound with wild-fowl, (swans, geese, ducks, and seal, &c.), and in season the swamps and marshes afford cover for snipe and plover.

It is in the lakes of the high land where the sagacious beaver builds its huge dam with such adroitness and skill, so, as its instinct would seem, to surpass the genius of man himself.

During my short stay here, of seven days, the weather was particularly fine, for although rain fell incessantly the whole of one day, still the atmosphere did not feel humid, the temperature was mild, the thermometer ranging from 52° to 53° and the barometer kept at 30-30. I had no opportunity of ascertaining the time of high water, or its vertical rise and fall, at the full and change of the moon, and having no artificial horizon, was unable to ascertain, with the accuracy I could wish, the exact geographical position of the extreme point of Dungeness Spit on which a beacon would be invaluable to a mariner visiting this bay. However by using the sea horizon in the morning, and taking a back observation at noon, and applying to the chronometers their errors on Greenwich mean time, with their daily rates obtained last at Honolulu, "Sandwich Islands," makes the long. 123° 8' 02" N., and the lat. 48° 12' 20" W., which, I think, will be found near the truth.

EXPERIMENTS MADE TO DETERMINE THE LENGTH, HEIGHT, AND SPEED OF THE SEA, NEAR THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

THE height of the sea was determined by the method recommended by M. Arago, viz.:-observing the height, that the eye must be raised above the water line, in order to see the crest of the coming wave on with the sea horizon, when the ship is in the trough of the sea. This method, which may seem difficult at first, we found after a little practice, to be capable of giving very fair results, where the means of a number of observations were taken:

The length of the sea was measured, by noting the length of line required to veer a spar astern of the ship, when going dead before it; so that, the spar might be on the crest of one wave, when the ship was on the crest of the preceding one. At times, when the sea was regular, I have reason to believe, we obtained a very close approximation to the truth.

The speed of the sea was obtained, by noting the time the crest of the wave took to pass from the spar to the ship's stern; adding, of course, the speed the ship was going to that observed:

SHANGHAI is situated in the province of Kiang-su. According to the statistical tables of the Emperor Kien-long, Kiang-su contains 40,000 square miles, and has a population of nearly 38,000,000 souls. If these figures are correct, they give an average of 946 inhabitants to the square mile, and show this province to be the most populous in the world, in proportion to its extent.

Kiang-su is esteemed the richest province in China. It consists of plains perfectly watered, being traversed in its whole length by the

Yang-tsze-kiang, one of the finest rivers of Asia. Its productions are nearly the same as those of Che-kiang. Rice, cotton, especially the yellow cotton, green teas, and the mulberry tree, are the principal. Its silk manufactures are very flourishing. To show that this province possesses the elements of great prosperity, agricultural, manufacturing and commercial, it is only necessary to mention the names of some of the cities:-Nankin, the ancient capital of the Empire, Suchau, surnamed the paradise of China, and Shanghai, one of the most celebrated seats of commerce of any age.

Of the four ports recently opened, Shanghai is the one which has acquired, and will maintain the most importance in regard to European

commerce.

The Yang-tsze-kiang falls into the China sea, by a very large mouth, divided into two parts by the large Island of Tsung-ming, gradually formed by the deposit of mud from the river. These accumulated deposits daily form new banks, which render the navigation very difficult. This river receives a great number of tributaries. The first from the mouth is the Woosung River, upon which Shanghai is situated. There is a small village at the confluence, to which the English have given the name of Woosung, where may still be seen the mounds of earth, and the palisades behind which the Chinese raised their vast, but useless batteries. It appears a miserable village.

Woosung is the spot selected by the English and Americans, for the station to supply opium for Shanghai. We have already seen that Tinghai (in the island of Chusan) forwards opium to Ningpo. Each of the ports opened to trade thus possesses a sort of branch for smuggling. The Chinese Government has launched edict after edict against opium; it has prohibited the use of it, under the most severe penalties; and even after the defeat of its armies, has constantly refused to legalize the introduction of it. But it wants power. The mandarins commissioned to watch over the execution of the edicts are the first to violate them; and the smuggling vessels anchored at Woosung pursue their trade in perfect security. Brigs or clippers arrive every day, which fill the stationary vessels with chests of opium. From the latter, the Chinese merchants are supplied with smaller quantities. The war junks which pass to Shanghai or Nankin, assist in this barefaced violation of the Chinese laws, without even attempting to put any obstacle in the way of it. The opium vessels are armed with guns, and have numerous crews, which in case of attack, could set at defiance all the fleets of the Celestial Empire. It would certainly be better to remove the prohibition than maintain such a state of affairs. The Government incurs a moral disgrace by the confession of its weakness, and China sees every year the departure of vast sums, which abstracted from its trade and agriculture go to promote in India the extension of the manufacture of opium. The station of Woosung is one of the most important. On an average 800 chests per month, are sold there for a sum of about 3,000,000 francs (600,000 dollars). The sale of opium annually in China is estimated at 40,000 chests, worth 135,000,000 francs, (27,000,000 dollars).

Woosung is twenty-five miles from Shanghai. The banks of the river are very low, and require to be defended by dykes. At certain points the dykes are double;-one is of stone, the other at the distance of some metres, consists of a mound of earth beaten down, as a second barrier against inundation. It is a work of immense labour.

Before reaching Shanghai, one can judge of its commerce, by the large and magnificent route which conducts to it. As we go up the river, we are struck by the prodigious number of vessels which traverse it in all directions. These are not merely fleets of fishing boats carrying a miserable family and their nets, but also large junks loaded with rich produce of the province, the various forms of which indicating those from Shangtung, Fokien, Kwantong or Siam, point out sufficiently the diversity and distance of its commercial relations. From the midst of this fleet of Chinese, still larger than that seen on the approach to Ningpo, we discover at intervals the white sails of the European ships, newly admitted to a share in the navigation of this magnificent river. In proportion as we advance, the banks contract, the scene becomes limited, the vessels are crowded, until at last the passage is entirely barricaded by a forest of masts, which points out Shanghai upon the left bank of the river. Ships of great size can at all times go up; when the wind fails, the tide carries them up. Thus upon a tributary of about forty-three miles from the mouth of the Yang-tsze-kiang, Shanghai enjoys all the advantages of a sea-port. The city, that is the space surrounded by walls, is separated from the river by a vast suburb very commercial, very populous, with narrow streets, lined with immense warehouses, and incessantly blockaded with merchandize, which is carried on the backs of men to the landing places. This suburb enclosed between the walls and the river is the only one which belongs to Shanghai. On other sides extend a cultivated plain, covered with rice fields and villages.

Shanghai has five gates; the walls are high and thick, built of stone and brick. They are about four or five miles in circuit, but the space which they enclose is not entirely inhabited. When we go from the quarters adjoining the suburb, the number of warehouses diminishes, activity disappears, large gardens surround the houses; one might believe himself without the walls. The number of inhabitants is estimated at 300,000.

There is no remarkable monument in the city, There is only a garden, known among Europeans by the name of the "Tea Garden," a public promenade, which does not exist in the other Chinese cities which we are at present permitted to visit.

The Tea Garden occupies a square of a regular form, about as extensive as the garden of the Palais-Royal, at Paris, planted with trees at different places, and studded with kiosques in rock work, the singular structure and varied designs of which form one of the most picturesque points of view. The Chinese excel in the arrangement of these kiosques, which are found in the gardens of wealthy mandarins. They know how to dispose of a block of rocks, a tuft of trees, an irregularity in the ground,