sent moment particularly interesting. We were sometimes led to wish, from the length of the notes, and the endless variety which they embrace, that the whole had been blended. together in a new work, for which the translator appears fully equal. This volume is divided into four books. The second, which contains observations respecting the Island of Java, and the third, which treats entirely of Bengal, afforded us much satisfaction.

On passing the Island of St. Paul, in the southern Indian ocean, they met with the following curious instance of the manner in which marine animals feel the approaches of a

storm:

Shortly afterwards, about six o'clock, there arose a sound just like the groaning of a man out of the sea, near the ship's side. When I first heard it, I thought that some one of the crew had been hurt between the decks, and I sent the officer of the watch down to see what was the matter. The men, however, who were on deck, told me that they had heard this noise arising, as it were, from out of the water several times before; and I then perceived it to be as they said; for going on the outside of the mainchains, I plainly heard it ten or twelve times repeated. It seemed to recede proportionably as the ship advanced, and lessening by degrees, died away at the stern. pose that it was perhaps occasioned by a sea-lion, that might be near the ship, as many of these animals were said to have been seen on the Island St. Paul, although we perceived nothing like any animal. About seven o'clock, the gunner, who came to make a report of some matters of his department to me, informed me, that on one of his India voyages, he had met with the same occurrence, and that a dreadful storm had succeeded, which forced them to hand all their sails, and drive at the mercy of the winds and waves for four-andtwenty hours. When he told me this, there was not the least ap pearance of any storm; yet before four o'clock in the afternoon, we lay under our bare poles, scudding before the wind, in a violent tempest. The sea ran so high on all sides, that at nine o'clock in the evening, all the cabin windows and hatches were stove in, and the water rushed quite into the state room. To provide, however, as much as possible against this, we spread a sail over the stern, on which the sea could break, and which proved of great service to us. This blowing weather continued till the next day, the 12th of January, when the violence of the storm abating a little, we were enabled to set Vol. 11,

I

our sails again. Fortunately, no material damage was done to our masts or yards, but the bread and sail rooms were again very leaky.

The captains of ships in the service of the Dutch East India Company were obliged, by their articles, to consult their lieutenants respecting the course to be steered; and if they could not agree, a council was summoned, consisting of the principal officers on board, including the captain, where the matter was decided by a majority of votes. This council likewise took cognizance of whatever, not relating directly to the navigation of the ship, may be called extraordinary circumstances; and determined respecting the diminution or increase of the allowance to the crew; the touching at any places for reparation, or refreshment; the time to be passed there, &c. as per Art. III. IV. V. and VI. of the East India Company's Artikel-brief, or articles of engagement, entered into by the persons in their employ.

The following account of the Reef of Anguillas will be of service to professional men:

This reef stretches out from the continent, as far as 36° south latitude, and perhaps farther, but the soundings are, in some places, thereabouts, two hundred fathoms. By the depth, and the nature of the bottom upon the reef, you may know whether you are to the eastward, or to the westward of Cape Anguillas. To the eastward, the ground is hard, and to the westward, soft, loose mud, with a much greater depth; so that having passed the cape to the west, you get out of soundings by degrees.

The heavy seas, that are occasioned by the storms, which are so frequently met with, on the reef, make it a very dangerous part of the navigation, and the Company have lost, in consequence, many ships; especially of the second division, or those that come upon the reef in the months of April and May, at which time the weather is the most stormy. Ships going to the Cape of Good Hope cannot avoid passing over the reef, in order to be certain of their longitude, and not to overshoot the Cape. On account, however, of the danger attending it, orders were given by the Company, in the years 1767 and 1768, for their ships, which passed here in that time of the year, to haul in upon the outside of the reef, in order to ascertain their situation, and rectify their estimation; but on meeting with soundings, then to stand directly south, in order to run round the reef, without touching

at the Cape of Good Hope; but instead of that, to touch at St. Helena, for refreshment. This mode, however, proved to be attended with worse consequences; and all their ships are accordingly again allowed to touch at the Cape of Good Hope, except the last ship, which refreshes at St. Helena.

The Dutch East India Company pay a yearly sum of 3,000 sterling to the kings of the Moluccas, in consideration of which, they engage to destroy all the spice-trees, which are dispersed through the woods of their extensive islands, and detachments of Europeans are sent out from time to time, to see that this extirpation be duly executed. The cinnamon found at Ceylon in 1795 was purchased of the captors, by the English East India Company, for 180,000l. sterling. In the latter end of 1797, the quantity of 13,893 bases, containing 1,238,968 pounds of cinnamon, was brought to England, and the East India Company sold 350,000 pounds, at their ensuing spring sale.

The translator's account of the Dutch factory at Canton will give our readers an idea of the valuable additions made by him to the work, and will afford them considerable information respecting the Dutch trade thither under their old

government.

The Dutch factory at Canton is not, like all their other settlements, and places of trade, in India, subordinate to the government at Batavia, but has, for upwards of forty years, been under the management of a special committee of directors in Holland; yet every thing relative to it, is communicated to, and transacted in concert with, the government at Batavia. The cargoes of the four or five ships, which the Dutch send annually to China, amount in value to f.2,400,000; or f.2,500,000, about 225,000l. sterling, one half of which consists in silver, either in bars, or Spanish dollars, and the other half in tin, lead, pepper, cloves, and nutmegs, upon which articles a profit of, at least, f.660,000, about 60,000l. sterling, is made. For the above capital, the Company's agents purchase between four and five millions pounds of tea, of all sorts, and a quantity of silks, nankeens, china, turmeric, &c. We subjoin a list of the quantities of tea, exported in Dutch ships from China, for the twenty years between 1776 and 1795:

The following information is well deserving of notice, and might perhaps be turned, under certain limitations, to the advantage of our navy:

The integument that surrounds the cocoa shell is used, instead of hemp, for the manufacture of cordage, which is called coir, and is brought, in considerable quantities, from Ceylon, and the coast of Malabar, to Batavia. Cables are even made of it, of twenty, and more, inches thick, which are found to be as good, and, in some cases, better, than European ones of hemp. By their lightness, they float upon the water, and by their elasticity, they are capable of great extension and contraction*.

Captain Stavorinus, in his third book, gives a particular account of the Ganges, and is of opinion that its source is farther to the north, than the Mountains of Thisbet. He derives its name from Gang, which, in Persian, as Wanka in

Captain Tho Forrest gives his testimony to the excellence of the coir for cables; being elastic, it gives so much play to a ship that rides hard at anchor, that, with a cable of one hundred and twenty fathoms, the ships retire or give way, sometimes half their length, when opposed to a heavy sea, and instantly shoot a head again; the coir-cable, after being fine drawn, recovering its size and spring. Hempen cables are strong and stubborn, and ships often founder that ride by them, because nothing stretches or gives way; the coir yields and recovers." T.

the Hindoo dialect, signifies winding, arched, bent; its remarkable sinuosities give great probability to this derivation. He also informs us that there are large and dangerous banks, which lie before the mouth of the Ganges, and that the river itself is every where filled with sand-banks, as well in the middle, as on the sides, which renders the navigation very dangerous. The loss of anchors and cables by the Company's ships in this river amount every year to 2,725. Mr. Wilcocke has subjoined the following valuable note:

These sands are distinguished by the English, by the appellation of the western and eastern Braces, Barabulla-sand, Long-sand, and Gasper-sand, or the eastern sea-reef. The braces are two hard flats, lying to the southward of the Beercool shore; they are detached from the land by a tolerable channel, or three fathoms water or more; and they separate Balasore Road, from the entrance of Hougly River. The western Brace is about five miles broad at the north end; it lies north by east, and south by west, being seven leagues long; but from the middle to the south end, it is little more than two miles broad; the depth, at low water, upon the Brace, is at the north end, two fathoms; at the crossing track, which is a space athwart the Braces, about two miles broad, in the direction of east by north, three fathoms'; and thence to the southward it gradually increases to eight fathoms; after which there is no more hard ground. The Eastern Brace is four miles broad, from the north end down to the crossing track; and thence to the south end, it tapers away to a point, and bends round in a circle to the S. E. The whole length of the Brace is twelve leagues, and the hard ground at its southern extremity is called the Western Sea Reef; on the north end of the Brace, there is something less than one fathom, at low water; and the depth increases gradually to the southward; there being two fathoms on the crossing tack, and from three, to three and a half, at its southern point. Barabulla is a sand, which begins about three leagues south by west from the pagoda of Ingellee, and extends S. S. W. about ten miles; the north end is called the head, and the south end the tail, of the Barabulla; the first is very shoal, having only half a fathom, or so, at low water; it is very dangerous, there being five fathoms in the channel close by it; the tail of this sand has not much less water upon it than there is in the channel, only it is broken ground, and overfalls of about half a fathom, every cast of the lead. Long Sand begins at Cajoree Point, and extends to the southward, to latitude 21° 18 north; it is, in all, thirty-five miles long; its width is various, but generally it is narrow, having many patches, which are dry at low water; the directions in