May 1853 Japanese Islands having probably lied themselves. They were perhaps only fishermen. Capt. Stevens found, in a basket near the hut, some living sea snakes of large size, and of two species, which were preserved. In the afternoon, passed Takara T Sabme I. 8th N. lat. 30°03' E. lon. 129°57' Cloudy Wind E.S.E. Temp. 76° We passed Kouchichi, Victorious & Archimedes Is. and toward evening made Takumo-sima. 9th N. lat. 31°04' E. lon. 131°18' Wind S.E. Temp. 73° In the morning we were passing along off the East side of Tanegasima. At noon we hauled up to the N. E. and were soon out of sight of land. A few Albatrosses (D. fuliginosa) were seen. 10th N. lat. 31°55' E. lon. 134°39' Cloudy Wind S. Temp. 78° 11th N. lat. 33°20' E. lon. 137°40' Wind W. Temp. 69° 12th N. lat. 34°32' E. lon. 138°06' Wind Variable Temp. 69° In the morning we made land, - the coast of Niphon. Soon after we saw the great extinct volcano "Fusi-jama" towering above the clouds, its conical top covered with snow, which made it at first difficult to distinguish from the clouds, which was white also. The breeze was light and unfair, so that we made slow progress, but by sunset had beat up under the S. coast of Ido. Many Japanese vessels were in sight May 1853 Japan on the coast. I got a haul of the dredge in 20 fms. sand. on one of our tactics, and got a few small shells and an Ophictepis. At noon the broad pennant of Caumodore Rodgero was hoisted at the main. At night we have to. 13th Weather equally. A thick fog. Wind S.W. strong. In the forenoon the weather clearing for a short time gave us a view of the coast of Ido, and notwithstanding, the fog, the Caumodore re- solved to run for our port (Simoda) as it had been surveyed and its position accurately determined by Capt. Perry. Running along the coast we at last made Block Island, rounded it, and bore away due North. Nothing but a few detached rocks could be seen, but we knew that at the bottom of the dark fog- gy hole ahead of us was a safe anchorage and sure enough, after a run of ten minutes we suddenly found ourselves close to the en- trance of the port, and a few moments after we were at anchor within it. The "Hancock" came in shortly after. We were visited by a boat containing Messrs Reed and Boby, American merchants from living here since April, and soon after by a Japanese boat with officers & the pilot.