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are only found in Madagascar, one variety of which, the aye-aye is actually the Aquadrumatous rodent, or monkey beaver. The vege table productions are marvellous in their beauty; among which may be mentioned the magnificent orchid Angræcum sesquipedate and the Ouvir anda femestralis, or lace-leaf plant. The dyes, gums, and medicinal plants are of great value and variety, while the unworked mineral treasures are immense.

So that much as we know of the world we have yet much to learn.

Nautical Notices.

PARTICULARS OF LIGHTS RECENTLY ESTABLISHED.
(Continued from page 218.)

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F. Fixed. Ff. Fixed and Flashing. R. Revolving. I. Intermitting. Est. Established.

2:3

6 Est. 10th April, '62.

72 17 Est. 81st March, '62.

CHINA TO AUSTRALIA.

6, Frederick Place, East Brixton, June 12th, 1862. Sir, I was much gratified by reading in your May number of the Nautical a short statement from Captain Palack, of the Hamburg barque Esmeralda, drawing attention to a passage which he had just made from Fou Chou to Sydney by the Pacific Ocean, in which he beat all the vessels that had made their passages by the ordinary and circuitous route through the China Sea and Indian Ocean about fifty days, or by half the time. His words are "These vessels all went through the China Sea, and I would have done the same had I not been in possession of your magazine for 1859, and read those pages, 250 to 255, by Captain Hunter." It is, as stated, highly gratifying to find that I have been instrumental in shortening the passage of at least one ship.

Further on in his letter, however, Captain Palack states that he

does not believe the West monsoon in the South Pacific blows so far to the eastward as I have stated, namely to 165° or 170° E. Let us see on what grounds Captain Palack forms this opinion. He arrived at Sydney on the 21st of November; therefore must have crossed the locality alluded to about the end of October or the beginning of November, and he seems to be surprised that he did not experience westerly winds then.

Now, there is certainly nothing contained in my statement that would lead him to expect westerly winds at that time. It is there clearly stated that the westerly monsoon blows from the middle or end of December to the middle or end of March. Calms and light winds from the northward were experienced by him at that time, namely about the beginning of November, from the line to 10° S. It does not seem to have struck Captain Palack that he was then in the region of the S.E. Trade wind; and as that did not blow there is a strong inference that it was blown out for the time, and would, after an interval of light winds, be succeeded by westerly winds. However, I would not lead any one to expect westerly winds in the Pacific before the middle of December. And as the remarks which induced Captain Palack to try this passage were the result of some twelve or fourteen years' cruizing in the Pacific, I still decidedly adhere to my statement.

Perhaps Captain Palack, on some future voyage, may pass the locality named during these months, and will then give us his experience, which I should infinitely prefer to the hearsay opinions given in his letter.

In conclusion, I confidently predict that the time is not far distant when it will be thought preposterous that ships from China to Sydney should ever have adopted the very circuitous and rough weather route through the China Sea and Indian Ocean, when the short and direct route by the Pacific could so easily have been accomplished.

I am, &c.,

To the Editor of the Nautical Magazine.

ROBERT L. HUNTER.

REPORTED DANGER ON THE NORTH COAST OF ANGLESEA.

Liverpool, 17th May.

Sir, I desire to bring under the notice of all concerned that on the afternoon of Wednesday last, at low water, the ship Ethel, from Bombay, drawing twenty-three feet water, with Coal Rock Buoy S.E.b.E. and the Skerries Lighthouse W.b.S., struck twice on a sunken rock or wreck. The ship heeled over above streaks each time she struck, grating in the intervals between.

T. Court, Esq.

W. HALL.

The foregoing is stated to be posted at Liverpool. There can be no doubt that a solitary rock, which may be a very formidable danger, is sometimes missed by the most scrupulous nautical surveyor; and it

NO 7.-VOL. XXXI,

3 D

would be remarkable if this should turn out to be one, and yet not discovered before in this much frequented route. A very short time, however, will serve to show whether it be the remains of a wreck or something entitled to the name of Ethel Rock.

The foregoing, relating to the Ethel Rock, should have appeared, with the rest of our Nautical Notices, in our last, but was reserved for this number from want of space. Since which H.M.S. Asp, Commander Alldridge, was sent to examine the locality of this reported danger, and has succeeded in ascertaining the position of a very dangerous rock, the least water on which is nineteen feet. It has now taken its place on the chart under the name of the Ethel Rock; the correct place of which is marked by the Trinity House by a red buoy, which lies with the Coal Rock S.E.b.S. very nearly, distant seven cables' length.

PETERS ROCK,-Coast of Mexico.

We find the following in Mitchell's Maritime Register :

Captain Vansittart, of H.M.S. Ariadne, reports that a shoal exists off Vera Cruz not marked in the charts. The shoal lies N.E. JE. twenty one miles from Vera Cruz lighthouse (which stands at the West angle of the castle of San Juan de Ulloa,) has seventeen feet over it, and the sea breaks on it during Northers. To avoid this shoal it is recommended to make the coast of Mexico to the northward of the parallel of 19° 30′ N. Bearings magnetic; variation, 8° 20' E.

The position of this shoal, thus reported by Captain Vansittart, we understand, and said to be in Norie's chart, was verified by Captain Saunders, of the U.S. corvette St. Mary, as well as by Mr. F. Peters, the Harbour-Master of Vera Cruz. It is properly N. 59° 33′ E. (true) from the lighthouse at Vera Cruz, and is cautiously avoided by the West India Mail steamers.

THE KOK SHOAL,-Coast of Cochin China,- Vessel Lost. The following is also from Mitchell's Maritime Register :— The Valparaiso, Dutch three-masted schooner, Captain Kok, which left Saigon on 31st January last for Macao with a cargo of rice and thirteen Chinese passengers, on the 6th current, about 10h. 10m. a.m., struck on a sunken rock not laid down on the charts, Point Kega bearing N.E.IN.; Cape Tiwan, W. S.; and Point Baken, N.b.W.¿W., lat. 10° 20' long. 107° 38' E., and by chronometer 107° 40′. On sounding the pumps it was found that she was making much water, and although all hands were kept at the pumps, by 5h. p.m. she had nine feet of water in the hold. The long-boat was then got out, but there being a heavy swell on, it was thrown against the vessel and knocked to pieces. In trying to get the small boat out, a hole was knocked in its side, but this was stopped by a bundle of clothes. At

6h. 30m. p.m., there being then eleven feet of water in the vessel, the crew got into the boat, which was so crowded that the Chinese were obliged to be left on board the ship.

About 2h. a.m., of the 7th, on rowing round, it was found that the deck of the ship was even with the water and the sea breaking regularly over it. The boat then steered for Cape St. James, and arrived at the guardship Didon about 9h. a.m. Captain Kok and his second mate immediately returned in one of the Didon's boats to look for the wreck; but although they remained for two days and two nights searching for it, nothing was to be found. They returned to the guardship.

This appears to be a very dangerous rock on a part of the China coast the approaches to which are but little known.

MARRIOT ROCK-—in Entrance of Beitkul Cove, Malabar Coast.

The following is from a Bombay paper-the rock which it reports being just in the way of a vessel rounding the point which forms the harbour.

12th March, 1862. Notice is hereby given, that a patch of detached sunken rocks, one of which has only seven feet of water over it at low spring tides, has been discovered off the entrance to Beitkul Cove, on the Malabar Coast, about one hundred to one hundred and fifty yards off shore, and in the direct line that a vessel might take when rounding into the Cove from West or North-West.

The bearings from it are as follows:

Fisherman's rock off Carwar head in a line with the Southern Oyster rock to the West, and the centre of Deoghur Island in a line with Loliem point to the North.

W. F. MARRIOTT, Lieut.- Col., Sec. to Government.

RED SEA LIGHTS.

The building of the lighthouses in the Red Sea is rapidly proceeding. The Moniteur de la Flotte gives the following account of them :

Zafran lighthouse, of stone, for the approaches to the gulf of Suez, on point Zafarana in lat. 29° 9′, long. 32° 43′, was lighted on the first of January last.

Ushruffee light in the course of construction in the middle of the Strait of Jubal, on the Ushruffee rock which covers with the tide, in lat. 27° 44′ N., and long. 33° 47', is constructing on an iron support, resting on a base of masonry, and will be lighted in a few months.

The Dedalus light, on the rock of this name, in the middle of the Red Sea, awash at low water, in lat. 24° 55', and long. 35° 57', standing on a base similar to the foregoing, will be completed about the end of this year.

These three lights are being constructed at the expense of the Egyptian Government, being entirely Egyptian. The P. and O. Com

pany have undertaken to send by their vessels the oil for their con sumption, and the provisions for the maintenance of the light keepers.

LIGHT AT SURINAM.

The following extract of a letter, signed W. Stine, in the Shipping Gazette, is important to commanders of our merchant shipping :

The light ship at Surinam has been moved about four miles up the channel, and a buoy put in its place. Had I not paid strict attention to the lead, my ship would have grounded on the bank off Brown Point. This caution may be the means of saving some one's property, as no confidence can be placed in her (the lightship's) position.

f

THE PRESENT CONDITION OF MERCHANT SEAMen, and How IT MAY BE IMPROVED.

St. John's Lodge, near Aylesbury, May 1862. Sir, I feel sure that the above subject will always claim space in your columns: would that I were as sure of being able to treat it in the manner it deserves. But it seems right for some one to call attention to it, as it has too long exemplified the truth of the old adage "What is everybody's business is nobody's business."

The peculiarities of a sailor arise from the circumstances with which his profession surrounds him, by which some of human nature's weakest points are laid bare, courting the attacks of numerous enemies. Unlike the young landsman he never has to provide for himself, but is in this point treated as a child so long as he goes to sea; which prevents him from acquiring a most important habit, and leaves him a prey to the thousands of parasites who live on the hard earned pay of seamen, and at the same time hang like dead weights upon them, it being their interest to do all in their power to prevent Jack from rising in the scale of society. That they succeed but too well may be seen by any one visiting the resorts of sailors, inhabited as they are by the veriest scum of the earth, a misery to themselves and a nuisance to the whole neighbourhood in which they dwell.

The great question is-How is this to be remedied? Something has been already done in the shape of Sailors' Homes, Savings' Banks, &c.; and to this may be attributed the progress which sailors have made during the last few years. But an immense deal remains to be done, both for them and for those who are tempted by such easy prey to lead the most degraded of lives; for the sailor-parasites are more likely to become useful members of society when the sailortemptation is lessened by sailors going to the Homes and making a more provident use of their money. We ought also to have Homes for married sailors, where their wives and families could live at moderate terms, with the means of earning a little money; also a Be

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