longitudes are the most tedious part, as a year's culminations and occultations will not do more than give an approximate result. If these are made at points well connected geodetically or by chronometers, they will do as well as if made at one station; indeed better, as eliminating local action. I say nothing now about chronometer expeditions across, because we know so little of the facilities or difficulties of communicating, and the facilities are increasing every day. Keep this subject in mind, however. Furnish Mr. Downes the latitudes and longitudes of several pointssay Columbia river, Puget's sound, perhaps others and request him to compute the predictions for occultations for the next two years for you, from April 1, 1849. His address is John Downes, Walnut street, Philadelphia. Write to him as soon as you can, in my name, and ask him to let you have results by December 1. The sooner we can have some harbor maps and sketches of general reconnaissance and information of interest to communicate to Congress and the public, the better. Much of your ultimate success depends upon timely communication. Let me hear from you by every opportunity; and besides the regular formal reports, write very freely, public letters or private ones, at my disposal. I do not wish you to confine your remarks to matters relating to the land work until the hydrographers are with you, but to give any information which may be of interest, and when no regular authority has got charge of procuring it. Of course, when the regular system of division of labor in the survey, or out of it, obtains, I do not desire to suggest interference. Your known qualities make me leave this an open subject, only limited by your discretion. You will forward your accounts in the usual forms as frequently as practicable, monthly when practicable, and not passing over a quarter if it can be avoided without great inconvenience. Take your vouchers in triplicate, and send two sets by different oppor. tunities, and keep one by you in case of accident to the others. I await your information in regard to the best mode of transmission of funds, the amount you wish to take with you, based upon your estimates and expenses, the form in which you wish it to be furnished. If an estimate to the close of the fiscal year July, 1849, will carry you certainly through, it would be best to present that for my action before you leave here; then a provisional estimate for the next year, upon which I can act later; and if I should not hear from you, Mr. Hein will make such arrangements in regard to account for salary, &c., as you desire for yourself and Mr. Davidson. For note of books to be kept, and of copies to be made and sent to the office, and of disposal of originals, see paper A. With hearty wishes for your success, yours, truly and respectfully, JAMES S. WILLIAMS, Esq., Assistant U. S. Coast Survey. [INSTRUCTIONS.] COAST SURVEY OFFICE, Washington, January 25, 1849. SIR: Your first duty in section X, to which you have been directed to repair in the instructions of August and September last, will be to determine whether a survey, or merely a reconnaissance, will be necessary at the mouth of the Columbia river. This you will execute in connexion with Lieutenant Commanding W. P. McArthur, jointly with whom you will also decide the question whether the light-houses on Cape Disappointment and Point Adams, provided for in the territorial bill relating to Oregon, shall be constructed or not, their location, character, and advantages, accessories required, and any other points of interest, reporting to me your results in regard to light-houses, or of reconnaissance or survey, as early as practicable. The movement of trade in Oregon, the facilities for entrance to the ports, and other relative local advantages, will determine the question of the point to begin the survey, and I refer this to the joint decision of Lieutenant Commanding McArthur and yourself. Should Columbia river or Puget's sound be selected, you will estab lish an astronomical and magnetic station there, and proceed with the measurement of a local base, with a secondary triangulation, and furnish shore line for the hydrography as early as practicable. I will expect to hear from you by every opportunity. I enclose a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, directing the officers of the revenue, and others connected with the department, to furnish you such facilities as may not interfere with the discharge of their regular duties. I have applied for a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury to Governor Lane, one from the chargé d'affaires of Great Britain to the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, and for a copy of so much of the instructions of Captain Alexander V. Fraser, in command of the revenue brig Lawrence, as refers to facilities to the coast survey. When they are received, they will be forwarded to you at New York. Captain R. P. Hammond, United States army, and Sub-assistant Joseph S. Ruth, have been directed to report to you for duty. I expect you to take with you the most authentic maps and charts of the western coast, and to make such corrections in them as your opportunities may permit, and as will not interfere with the instructions for work in Oregon. I will write to you in New York in regard to twin day observations in connexion with Toronto, Cambridge, and Chili. Yours, respectfully and truly, JAMES S. WILLIAMS, Esq., Assistant U. S. Coast Survey. A. D. BACHE, Superintendent, &c. [INSTRUCTIONS.] NORFOLK, October 27, 1848. SIR: I have been directed by the Treasury Department to make arrangements for commencing the survey of the western coast of the United States. A land party has been for some time organizing under the charge of assistant James S. Williams. I am directed also to organize a hydrographic party to accompany or speedily to follow the land party, and you have been assigned to the command of the party. You will please, therefore, make all preliminary arrangements in conformity with oral instructions already received, or such as may suggest themselves as proper to you under circumstances, observing the usual routine in regard to estimates, &c. If no more suitable vessel for your purpose can be obtained, the schooner Ewing, the transfer of which from the revenue service has been directed by the Secretary of the Treasury, will be assigned to you. The fitting out of this vessel and her despatch at as early a moment as practicable is desirable-say before the last week of November. I do not deem it desirable that you should make the voyage in the vessel, as you cannot complete work now in hands, nor so well seize the most prominent objects of the western work, as by making the journey over the isthmus and joining the vessel at Panama or San Francisco. The specific duties required of you will be stated later in instructions. You are authorized to go to New York, in connexion with the transfer of the Ewing, at such time as you may deem best. I leave to a later day directions in regard to the closing of the work on Albemarle sound, having already communicated my views orally to you. Very respectfully, Lt. Com. W. P. MCARTHUR, A. D. BACHE, U. S. Navy, Assistant Coast Survey. [INSTRUCTIONS.] Superintendent, §c. COAST SURVEY OFFICE, SIR: Under the preliminary instructions of October 27, 1848, you have already attended to the organization of a hydrographic party of the coast survey for section X, to the preparation of the schooner Ewing for sailing, to her despatch, to instruments, books, &c., to estimates, and similar preliminary matters. It remains to give more special instructions in regard to localities and objects of work. All the general instructions, scientific, and business for the coast survey, will be in full force as far as they apply to the circumstances of the service in which you will be engaged. 1. The frequent communications which I expect to receive from you will de ,,velop a system of operations which may take the place of the temporary one now necessary. .. Your first duty in section X will be to determine whether a survey, or merely a reconnaissance, will be necessary at the mouth of the Columbia river: this you will execute in connexion with assistant James S. Williams, jointly with whom you will also decide the question whether the lighthouses on Cape Disappointment and Point Adams, provided for in the territorial bill of 1848, relating to Oregon, shall be constructed or not, their location, character, and advantages, accessories required, and any other points of interest; reporting to me jointly your results in regard to light-houses, or of reconnaissance, or survey, as early as practicable. The movement of trade in Oregon, the facilities for entrance to the ports, and other relative local advantages, will determine the question of the points to begin the survey, and I refer this to the joint decision of assistant James S. Williams and yourself. The work in section X will be executed upon the same principles and by the same method with that in the sections with which you are already familiar on the eastern coast. The land party under assistant James S. Williams will furnish you latitudes and longitudes in the usual way; and when a reconnaissance merely is required, points determined, by directions and distances. I wish you to give every facility, which may not interfere with the general progress of the work, to the land parties, who may be dependent on you for means of transportation, for the use of boats, and of men at particular times, and other facilities. In this even a closer co-operation is desirable than between the parties on the Atlantic coast, as the parties must be comparatively isolated. In deciding, therefore, in reference to facilities, I would prefer that you should consider the general progress of the work, rather than the advance of any particular department of it. In the same spirit I intrust to assistant James S. Williams and yourself the decision of any unforeseen questions which may arise, and give you jointly authority where you agree in reference to a measure relating to the. progress of the work, locality, arrangements, and the like. It will be important to establish permanent tidal registers at such points as may furnish facilities in regard to observations and observers, the number to be limited by the expenditure which you find necessary. With these, full series of meteorological observations should be combined, including the pressure (barometer's) of the air, temperature, (thermometer's,) direction and force of the wind, quantity of rain, temperature of a thermometer with a blackened bulb in the sun, and temperature of the surface of the ground. On these subjects I recommend to you the instructions of the Royal Society for meteorological observations for the magnetic observatories. Mr. Williams may furnish parts of these observations, and the subject should be matter for understanding between you. In regard to preparing preliminary sketches or charts, views of the coast, and the like, I leave the arrangement of the work to Mr. Williams and you jointly, whether to follow the usual mode of returning the land. maps and hydrographical charts separately, or to unite in the return. 'The sooner we can have some harbor maps, and sketches of general reconnaissance, and information of interest to communicate to Congress and the public, the better. Much of your ultimate success depends upon timely communication. Let me hear from you by every opportunity; and besides the regular formal reports, write very freely public letters or private ones, at my disposal. I expect you to take with you the most authentic charts or maps of the western coast, and to make such corrections in them as your opportunities. may permit, and as will not interfere with the instructions for work in Oregon. You will forward your accounts in the usual form, as frequently as practicable, monthly when practicable, and not passing over a quarter if it can. be avoided without great inconvenience. Take your vouchers in triplicate, and send two sets by different opportunities, and keep one by you in case of accident to the others. Send an estimate for funds required at least four months in advance. I will expect to hear from you by every opportunity. You have been furnished with a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury, directing the -officers of the revenue, and others connected with the department, to furnish you such facilities as may not interfere with the discharge of their regular duties. I enclose a letter from the Secretary of the Treas.ury to Governor Lane, one from the chargé d'affaires of Great Britain to the officers of the Hudson's Bay Company, and a copy of the instructions to Captain Alexander V. Fraser, in command of the revenue brig Lawrence, containing a reference to facilities to the coast survey. Yours, respectfully and truly, A. D. BACHE, Superintendent United States Coast Survey. Lieut. Com'g W. P. MCARTHUR, EXETER, N. H., August 22, 1849. SIR: The extraordinary expenses which the officers of the coast survey party on the western coast of the United States have met with, induce me to make the recommendation that there be allowed to the chief and assistants of the parties there, instead of the sums already authorized by the department, two dollars and fifty cents per day for subsistence, to take effect from the first of January, 1849, when the Oregon party had nearly completed its preparations to leave the Atlantic coast. Very respectfully, yours, A. D. BACHE, Superintendent U. S. Coast Survey. W. M. MEREDITH, Secretary of the Treasury. TREASURY DEPARTMENT, SIR: Before acting on the recommendation contained in your letter of the 22d inst. on the subject of an increased allowance for subsistence to the chief and assistants of the coast survey parties on the western coast of the United States, in consideration of the extraordinary expenses to which they are subjected in California, I desire to be informed of the number of persons to whom it is proposed to make this allowance, specifying the navy or army, and civilians. I cannot learn that any of the civil or military officers of the United States stationed in California have had any ad |