arc evidently the result of mere running of surveys. The half-knowledge to be obtained by this kind of survey, has always acted as a check on the advance of geographical and nautical information, and is in itself useless; for the native coaster wants nothing beyond his local experience; the regular foreign trade employs a pilot; and the occasional visitor sees that all the details are so unlike the truth, that he does not even attempt to correct;—and thus our enterprising carriers in peace, and our active cruizers in war, find themselves equally foiled in their operations along shore. These evils can be remedied only by correct charts, on scales appropriate to the greater or less intricacy of their contents, and showing the true shape and nature of the shore, the positions of the towns, the places for anchoring, the depths on the bank, and the appearance of the land, as it makes in the offing. The present state of science, and the excellence of modern instruments, afford ample means for acquiring this knowledge with comparative facility, and our western American commerce has long been in need of such charts; but especially now, that the impulse it has received from the revolutions of those rich but only half maritime countries, has brought our vessels into contact with every port from Valdivia to the Columbia.
In carrying this great survey into effect, their Lordships have placed the fullest reliance on the unabated zeal and talents which you have heretofore displayed, and they have cautiously and wisely abstained, in your orders, from fettering you in the selection of your ground, or in that division and disposition of your time, which the periodic changes of season, or the occasional necessities of the vessels, may require. If, therefore. Providence permits you to preserve your resources unimpaired, and if the several governments interpose no obstacles, you
