The Statesman.
London, England, 1820-05-04 00:00:00

CHUIZE OF THE CONGRESS FRIOeITE.

.
(FROM TIM tTIONAL IXTELLIGENCON.)
. The following an extract of a letter from an Offi-
cer on hoard the United States frigate Congress. dated
I.intin Maud. fifty utiles from Canton, Nov. 7, lo IV:
" We made Java Head, the south-western extremity
of ti:e Wand of Java, and southern point, forming
Funds Straits, on the lath day- of Yeptentber, at 9
h. 30 tn. A. s. with tlo• ship Citizen, of New Vork,
wider convoy, After standing up the Straits some
thirty or forty miles, we were boarded by a great
vuttiln•r of the t.atires; an account of whom I sent
to our friend M'Kinsty. ire anchored in Anger Bay
nit the 21st, at 1 v. 0., where is a small fort and
b!ocklintise he'onging to the litech, and garr:soned
by Malay troops, commanded by a captain anti one
)übaltern.

'• The Javanese are far from considering themselves
under any restriction by the garrison in the village ;
on the contrary, much pains is taken by the Dutch to
keep them in a good humour.
" Leaving Anger flay, we worked up, day ht• day,
to the northward, until ne entere‘t the Straits of
Punta, which takes its name from the island forming
the eastern, as does the island of Sumatra the western
side of it. The shore along the coast of Sumatra,
both haw-1..8nd after entering the Straits, is remark-1
ably tow, and continually covered uith water for
some distance hack. Large trees appear growing tint
of the midst of the waters, whose roots, continually
washed by the ebb and flowing of the titles, gradually
loosen their hold in the earth, and a common gale of
wind will precipitate a %thole line in the Strait.,
whose floating trunks, generally with roots upturned,
are always met in passing through, to the no small,
thouglt temporary, alarm of strangers navigating this
passage. The Straits of Banta, from the entrance to
the outlet at the north, is 1.15 miles ; though possess.
.Ing many dangers and difficulties. I consider it the
the safest and best approach to the t. him' sea.
" At the head of this Strait, off the mouth of Pa•
Inntban river, we four,' a Ditteh sip* olron of one 7.1
and two frigates, besides smaller vessels. At the head
of this river, the Dutch have for many years main-
•taiold a factory; but, a few months since, the natkors,
embodying themselves, attacked the Dutch, and very
few were enabled to escape with life on board some
small vessels they had lying in the river ; upon the
first intimation at Batavia, they dispatched the vessels
we saw In the Straits, two frigates. then under weigh
standing up the river to Palumban.
• " Passing the Straits amidst squalls and thunder,
at three in the morning, during the vivid flashes of

lightning, w•e discovered the Seven Islands, then the
island of Palo Ty°, a small, high and uninhabited
island, situated to the westward of the former. Among
these islands, and those to the eastward, called the
Anhambas, we were visited by a speck of the 'Wal-
low, of two very different appearances, both having
thy sow note with those of uur own country : one of

the saute plumage and appearance, though smaller :
the other larger, much the bailie form, with a plumage
uf very light silver gray... To else of these birds, I
'believe the lame, the Chinese are indebted for their
greatest epicurean Instary—a bird's nest, which is
discovered, after much labour and search, among the
Vie rocks and cliffs of the islands-of the China Sea : a
few of which sold lo the Mandarins at Canton, re-com-
p-rise these poor searchers for months of toil. We
passed Palo Sepals, lying in lat. 12 deg. 2m. on the
tub October, and that vast rage of dangers which
tretch near 61'0 miles, to the roast of Palawan; to get
well to the northward of these shoal-, before the change
of the monsoon, is a great object obtained : and every
I•• Ay should at the same time endeavour to get as frr
to the eastward, doting the months uf September, Oc-
tober, and November as possible, as thick rainy wea-
ther, much easterly and heavy winds, are to be expect-
ed, and those dreadful scourges of these seas, the Ty-
fenge (Tuffoons, vulgarly called).
" It would surprise you to know what a number of
ger •pean establishments have been formed in this sin-
gularly wild and savage Archipelago, amongst a race
of rnile, vindictive, naked Islanders; you will behold
the subjects of different European nations, bidding
defiance, as it were to disease, to danger, and a thou-
send deaths, which is continually reducing the number
of their hardy few: strange too that sufferings should
not teach them commisseration ; but that, in the midst
ef all their troubles, they should treat those natives,
in their power, with ruthless remorseless tyranny.—
Thie observation is probably more applicable to the
ruteli settlers than any others. But the English can
claim no great exemption from the general reproach ofi
barbarity, in the treatment of their possessions in India.
The Butch have attempted é settlement on the north
coast of the Island Borneo; but the difficulties they
her • to encounter in the opposition of the natives,
the deleterious state of the atmosphere, makes it ex-
tremely problematical, whether they effect it or not
however little these islsoders like the innovation of
foreigners, they give the preference to the English, and
s.—mare opposed to tine Mitch Trin any others. Prom
the time we got to the north of Polo Saparta, until
we arrived at the north end of Luconia, was two weeks,
on aeconnt of the continued calms, and southerly cur-
rests ; un 24tA of October the wind commenced from
the noeth-east, and increased till 25th, when it blew
an ehisulute hurricane. Nothing could stand the fury
of the sudden and tempestuous gusts; every sail was
furled, avid it required all our exertions to secure the
ship. The whole firwanwnt assumed a wild, lucid,
and extraordinary appearance, and rellected upon the
&rhea blood-red colour, the precursor of a tyfong—
the seas rose in mountains, and tumbled over the ship
In wild confusion, and every part of her appeared to
trelnblt under the frequent shocks ; through the whole
night the tempest raged, and it was passed in no small
anxiety by all on board; thus it continued until the
311th, when it began to Orate, and on the 31st we put
sal' upon the ship.
" On the Ist of Nov. after doubling round the east
side of the l'ratas Shoal, ee made the coast of China,
and wound in among the islands to this place, where
see are at this time snugly moored, waiting the return
eit the Purser, and the arrival of the American Consul,
Mr. Wilcox, from Canton, to arrange the best mode of
procedure—whether to go np eighteen miles further to
an awhorage at Chinnpre, or remain here; we have
thus far obtained our sui,plies very readily from the
Aare, though at rather an advanced As yet I