Hartford was fitted out last August as flag ship of the South Pacific
squadron. The admiral had not yet removed his flag to the vessel, but
the extra accommodations provided for him and his train condoned the
dignity lost by his absence. On March 22 they weighed anchor for a sail
of more than four thousand miles over the blue ocean which stretches
between Callao and their destination, Caroline Island. The southeast
trade winds favored them, and from the first day there was actually no
necessity for altering the position of a sail....

The inhabitants--five men, one woman and two children, according to
the eclipse census--are natives of Tahiti. The houses are one story
structures with clapboard sides, probably cut out in California and
brought out in ships, to be erected on this island. The island on which
they are built is about three-fourths of a mile in diameter and nearly
circular in outline. The edge, which rises from five to twenty inches
from the water, according to the tide's phase, goes down under the water
to an even table of coral running out many feet into the sea; and is
impossible to step on it with bare feet. At the end of this table the
reef goes down perpendicularly, a sheer precipice, into the unfathomable
sea. No vessel can anchor here, and to make a landing was an exciting
matter. The island was approached in small boats on the side sheltered
from the wind, and here, with the luck which characterized the trip, was
found the only opening in this barrier of coral. A long cleft, perhaps
eight feet wide, at the outer edge of the reef, ran in, narrowing to a
mere crack near the shore. Watching a favorable chance, the boats were
guided through the surf into a cleft as far as shoal water, when the
men jumped on to the reef and carried baggage and instruments ashore as
quickly as possible. The boats, which were new when they entered the
surf, came out much the worse for wear, and the boat in which Dr.
Hastings landed was stove in. Once on shore, life became a succession of