less predominant as the summer advances, when westerly winds and clear weather become proportionately of less rare occurrence.

It is the fogs, even more than the irregular tides and currents, that render this island so dangerous: they frequently last many days and nights in succession with the prevalent easterly and southerly winds of early summer; and even as late as the beginning of August, when we were about the island, only six days out of nineteen were entirely free from fogs. Winds between the north and west are, in general, frequent in autumn and winter. They almost always bring fiue clear weather, with a rising barometer; but they are often of great strength and in winter accompanied with intense frost.

The position of the island, directly in the track of the violent, and said to be circular, storms, that so frequently pass along the American coast from the Gulf of Mexico, would give to a meteorological register, if faithfully kept, a far more than ordinary interest; and would also be of essential service in warning the people of the island when employed about wrecks, as well as the vessels in communication with them, of the approach of danger. A good barometer or aneroid, and a thermometer, should be supplied to the establishment, and a meteorological journal should be kept by the superintendant.

The establishment on Sable Island is at present under the command of Mr. McKenna, the superintendant; who has under him a foreman or second in command, Mr. Jackson, and nine men; two of whom, with their families, occupy outposts at the middle and east flag-staffs.

The principal establishment, consisting of a comfortable house for the superintendant and his family, buildings for the men, and the occasional accommodation of shipwrecked persons, for storing provisions, and property saved from wrecks, a forge, workshop, barn and stabling for domestic cattle, &c.,) is situated on the north side of the island, between the pond and the sand hills, on one of which stands the north-west flagstaff. The distance of the principal flagstaff from the west extreme of the Grassy Sandhills at the time of our survey, was 4215 fathoms, and I state it here for reference hereafter, whenever it may be wished to ascertain the waste of the island in any given number of years. This flag-staff is strongly ands ubstantially constructed on a sand hill forty feet high; and the crow's nest, or look-out at its summit, is 100 feet above the sea; commanding a fine view for many miles along the island, and over the surrounding ocean. It is in contemplation by the colony to show a light from this flag-staff, for the benefit especially of the Colonial Government vessel that visits the island periodically with supplies; and the schooners employed in the removal of persons and property saved from wrecks; in the exportation of wild horses, and in the mackarel and other fisheries around the island.

The east flag-staff conspicuously placed on a sand hill close to the north shore of the island, is distant 2280 fathoms from the east extreme of the Grassy Sandhills. Its position, if retained, will serve to indicate any change, that may hereafter take place, either by addition or subtraction, from this end of the island.

The middle flag-staff is situated further inland, and nearer the east end of the pond. It is intended to remove this outpost to a more ad

vantageous position on the south side of the island, where there is a house, about halfway along the pond, and where it will be better situated to observe and report wrecks, as well as to render prompt assistance.

The want of a post on the south side has been felt at times, when the pond has been rendered impassible by unsafe ice, and when many hours were unavoidably lost, in going round the pond, before assistance could be given to vessels that had come on shore.

Besides the houses at the three flag-staffs there is an unoccupied house of refuge on the north side, which was distant, in August last, 320 fathoms from the west extreme of the Grassy Sand-hills.

No wreck can take place on the island at a greater distance than six miles from some one of the posts; and in the event of one occurring, the outposts report by signal to the superintendent at the principal establish

ment.

Wrecks on the bars are of course far more dangerous to life than those that take place on the island; and it is important in such cases to know on which bar the vessel is, and the consequent direction in which to seek for safety on the island. This information, when the island is obscured by fog, or the darkness of night, must be sought by observing the direction of the line of breakers, which, on the north-east bar is between N.E.b.E. and E. mag., until near its outer extremity; whilst on the north-west bar it is N. W. N.

The establishment is supported by an annual grant from the legislature of Nova Scotia, to which the Imperial Government adds an equal sum; also by a salvage upon the sale of wrecked vessels and their cargoes; and by the occasional sale of wild horses. The number of these animals, at present on the island, is estimated at about 400, divided into several gangs, each under the leadership and control of a powerful male, who admits of no interference with his charge.

It is the opinion of the distinguished Colonial Secretary of Nova Scotia, The Honorable Joseph Howe, that much may be done to render the establishment in a greater degree self supporting, by improving the breed of wild horses, by a dairy-farm, including the rearing of cattle to a limited extent, by prosecuting the mackerel fishery in its season, by seine or lines as opportunity offered, and by the sale of cranberries, which are said to be in great demand in the United States.

In connexion with the establishment it may not be out of place to point out one important want, which seems to have been hitherto only imperfectly supplied. I allude to some provision for the religious, and intellectual instruction of those, who, from having been cast on shore at the commencement of winter, may be unavoidably detained through several of the most dreary months of the year, before they can be removed from the island.

Being without sufficient occupation to fill up their time, the opportunity would be favorable for acquiring information, and the best means of conveying it, under the circumstances, would be to furnish the establishment with a library, selected with the view of combining amusement with instruction; and especially with the hope of leading the thoughtless, but often generous-hearted seaman to recognise his obligation to that infinitely Great Being who having recently saved him from an unpre

pared-for temporal death, mercifully invites him to be saved from death eternal! The regular assembling of the people of the establishment and their families, together with any others that may be on the island, for public worship on Sundays, will also greatly tend to the same desirable end, and appears to be a paramount duty under the circumstances.

I cannot better close this account of Sable Island than by discharging the pleasing duty of bearing testimony to the order and efficient condition of the establishment under the able command of Mr. McKenna, the intelligent superintendent, from whom we received every information, assistance, and kind attention which it was in his power to render us, during our visit to the island, for the purpose of surveying it, and verifying its position last summer.

THE BONIN ISLANDS in 1851.-Port Lloyd.-By Captain R. C. Collinson, commanding H.M.S. Enterprize.

H.M.S. Enterprize arrived at the Bonin Islands on the 28th of April, and sailed from Port Lloyd on the 6th of May, having procured a supply of turtles, pigs, potatoes, onions and yams; pumpkins, water-melons and Indian corn were not quite ripe, but would be ready for use in another month. Fresh water was obtained from a sandy bay on the east side of the harbour; it was plentiful, although they complained of a dry season; but the casks have to be taken out of the boat unless you are possessed of a hose 300 feet long. On making the island from the southward, we experienced a difficulty in discovering the remarkable quoin mentioned by Captain Beechey as the mark for the harbour on the south side, being under the shadow of the high land at the back of it. No difficulty however, can be experienced by a stranger making the harbour from the southward, as the bold bluff on the south side is sufficiently remarkable, and the two paps, which Captain Beechey gives as a leading mark for clearing the rocks outside the harbour will sufficiently denote its position; besides that, among the detached rocks to the southward are two pinnacles, and over the "remarkable quoin" on the north side as you enter is a triple peak. We shot in close under the bluff, but did not see the shoal off it; (it will not do therefore for vessels to trust to the eye to pick this danger up,) and then had baffling winds until we opened South Bay, when we edged away to the north and came to off the entrance to Ten Fathoms Hole in twenty-five fathoms; (a better berth will be found a cable's length closer to the reef on the west side.) On leaving the harbour we were detained a day by strong southerly winds which prevented our warping to where we could have fetched out from,-and eventually we got away with a westerly wind, rounding the two fathoms patch close, and then barely fetching clear of the rocks off the south head, owing to the tide setting strong across the entrance of the harbour, (last quarter flood). In consequence of the baffling winds, vessels should always have their boats in readiness to tow. The following

account was obtained from Mr. Chapin, one of the oldest residents on the island.

The season for planting at the Bonin Islands is in the months of March and April, but ships calling at these islands can at all seasons procure a supply of potatoes, yams, onions, pigs, goats, fowls and fish. Turtle may be had from February until August inclusive, they begin to lay their eggs in May and continue to lay until August; after that time the females leave the islands, the males having left five or six weeks before: the females lay from 200 to 400 eggs each according to their age, and at two different layings.

Indian corn, pumpkins and water-melons, begin to ripen about the end of May. The prices of supplies are-yams and potatoes, two dollars per barrel; onions, four dollars per barrel; pumpkins, ten dollars per hundred; corn, one dollar per bushel. Turtle and goats, two dollars each; pigs, from one to seven dollars according to their size. The settlers have put hogs, goats and deer, upon some of the other islands and they are increasing rapidly. The prevailing winds from April to October are from north-east to south-east, and from November to March north-west to south-west; the strongest gales are in May and October, beginning at south-east and blowing hard for about four hours they chop suddenly round to the westward: they are not regular, that is to say, three or four years sometimes occur without any bad weather been experienced in these months: in December, January and February, gales of wind occur from west to north-west. There is a convenient place for heaving a vessel down, and a sand bank to lay a vessel on shore if necessary: two ships and one schooner have landed their cargoes and repaired here, and before the present settlers arrived, a Russian man-of-war was hove down.

Since the island was settled in 1830 by Mr. Mazerra, under the direction of Mr. Charlton (the consul for the Sandwich islands), twenty-six children, (twenty-one boys and five girls) have been born, twelve of whom died young. The following is a list of the residents at present.—

Ten females belonging to Oahu; one female belonging to Guam; two female children of three and five years old, besides eighteen natives of Oahu that have run away from ships and will leave the islands again the first opportunity.

The following men-of-war have visited Port Lloyd:

August 3rd, 1837, H.M.S. Raleigh, Captain Quin, five weeks from Macao. December 23rd, 1838, H.M.S. Larne, Captain Blake, fortyfive days from Macao. March 18th, 1845, Russian barque, Fertish, Captain Vonlurlasky, thirty-four days from Manila. September 9th,

1850, U. S. brigantine, Dolphin, Captain Page, thirty-one days from Manila.

On August 9th, 1849, the schooner Louisa, Captain Hadley, and the cutter Maid of Australia, Captain Young, from Hong-Kong arrived, and on the 11th, the Lorcha, Saint Andrew's, Captain Barker (as commander of the whole): they recruited and sailed on the 29th. On the 21st of September the Lorcha and the cutter returned, having experienced bad weather and requiring repairs: the settlers on the island gave them every assistance in their power to fit them for sea: after they were ready they first commenced plundering the natives of their live stock, salt provisions, oil, &c. They then commenced plundering the white people; they robbed Mr. Savory of about 2,000 dollars in cash and about 2,000 more in live stock, stores, oil, clothing and medicine: in fact, all they could get hold of—and what they did not want they broke and destroyed: Mr. Savory being obliged to secrete himself in the bush for fear they would take his life. They also robbed Mr. Millichamp of his live stock, stores, money and clothing: in fact, they took whatever they could lay their hands on.

A French whale ship (the Nile) arrived while they were here and nine of her men left her; Captain Barker furnishing them with arms to defend themselves and prevent the French Captain and Officers from taking them; and after the ship had sailed he received them all on board.

On some of the settlers remonstrating with Captain Young of the cutter, he said he did not care what his people did, and did not care if they left the settlers with only a shirt and trowsers. They took away Mr. Savory's wife and another female with them, and sailed on January 9th, 1850, for San Francisco.

On July 20th, 1850, arrived the brigantine Vanguard, Captain Richards, from Hong-Kong, bound to Stewart Island for Beche de la Mar; on the 4th of August she sailed, and after she got outside, the Captain in the night sent the boat on shore armed and stole one female from off the beach, and carried her away in the vessel. We understand their intention was to get two more females and carry them to Stewart Isle, where they were to be disposed of to the Chiefs for Beche de la Mar, as females are in great demand there.

Captain Page of the Dolphin took the depositions concerning these outrages, and it is to be hoped that the perpetrators will be stopped in their career-and an example made that the idle and dissolute cannot prey upon the industrious now-a-day with impunity.

NO. 3.-VOL. XXI.

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