towards the northern extremity. T he weather, indeed, during
three fucceflive days, the 25th, 26th, and 27th July was fo
dark and gloomy, that the eye could fcarcely difcern the largeft
objeils at the diftance o f a mile, yet the thermometer was from
8o° to 83* the greater part o f thefe days. A heavy and almoftin-
ceffant fall o f rain was accompanied with violent fqualls o f wind,
and frequent burfts o f thunder and flaihes o f lightning ; which,
with the crofs and confuted fwell in the fea, made the paflage not
only uncomfortably irkfome, but alfo extremely dangerous, on-
account o f the many iflands interfperfed in almoft every part
o f the lirait.
On the evening o f the 25th the fun fet in- a bank o f fog,
which made the whole weftern fide o f the horizon lo o t
Bke a blaze o f fire, and the barometer was obferved to have
fallen near one third o f an inch, which, in thefe latitudes,
and at fea, is confidered as a certain indication o f a change o f
weather. There were on board fome Chinefe filhermen who
had been driven out to fea in one o f the Eaft India company’s-
fhips, which we met with in the ftïaits o f Sunda. Thefe men
allured us that the appearance o f the heavens prognofticated one
o f thofe tremendous gales o f wind which are well known to
Europeans by the name o f T’y-phoon and which fome ingenious
and learned men have fuppofed to be the fame as the Typhon
o f the Egyptians or tuçuv o f the Greeks. The Chinefe* however
have made ufe o f no mythological allufion in naming this-
hurricane. T h e y call it I'a-fung which literally fignifies a
a gréât wind. The wind was certainly high the whole o f the
night and the following day, the thunder and lightning dreadful,
ful, and the variable fqualls and rain frequent and heavy j the
-depth o f the fea from 25 to 30 fathoms.
The charts, however, o f this paflage into the Ye llow Sea,
conftruaed by Europeans when the Chinefe permitted foreign
nations to trade to Ghu-fan, are confidered as fufficiently e x a a
for ikilful navigators to avoid the dangerous rocks and iflands.
B y the help o f thefe charts our fquadron ventured to Hand
through the ftill more intricate and narrow paflages o f the Chu-
fan Archipelago, where, in the contraaed fpace o f about eight
hundred fquare leagues, the furface o f the fea is ftudded with a
•duller, confiiling, nearly, o f four hundred diftin£t iflands.
Thefe iflands appeared to us, in failing among them, to be
moftly uninhabited, extremely barren o f trees or ihrubs, and
many o f them deftitute even o f herbage, or verdure o f any kind.
In fome o f the creeks we perceived a number of boats and other
fmall craft, at the upper ends o f which were villages compofed
o f mean looking huts, the dwellings mod probably o f filhermen,
as there was no appearance o f cultivated ground near them to
fumifh their inhabitants with the means o f fubfiftence.
The fquadron having dropped anchor, w e landed on one o f
the largeft o f thefe iflands; and walked a very confiderable diftance
before we faw a human being. A t length, in defcending a
valley, in the bottom o f which was a fmall village, we fell in
with a young peafant, whom with fome difficulty, by means o f
an interpreter, we engaged in converfation. Embarrafled in thus
fuddenly meeting with ftrangers, fo different from his own
f 2 coun