id not observe any sensible change on the ebb and flow of the sea; but
when we approached Rio Grande, which is eleven degrees to the north of
the equinoctial, we observed a considerable tide at the mouth of that
river, and the rise in some places was much the same as on the coast of
Portugal, whereas at the isle of St Thomas it was nearly the same as at
Venice.

The island of St Thomas was discovered above eighty[9] years ago, by some
captains in the royal navy of Portugal, and was altogether unknown to the
ancients. Its horizon or parallel passes at an equal distance between the
arctic and antarctic poles, and its days and nights are always equal. The
arctic polar star is there invisible, but the _guardiani_ are seen in
some measure to revolve, and the constellation which is known by the name
of _il crusero_, is seen in the heavens at a high altitude. To the
eastwards[10] of St Thomas, and at the distance of 120 miles, the small
island called _Il Principe_ is situated. This latter island is inhabited
and cultivated, the produce of its sugar canes belonging to the revenue
of the kings eldest son, from which circumstance the island derives its
name. To the S. S. W. or S. and by W. and in the latitude of almost 2 deg. S.
is the uninhabited island of Annobon, on which numbers of crocodiles and
venomous serpents are found. Its rocky shores abound in fish, and are
much resorted to by the inhabitants of St Thomas on that account. When
first discovered, the island of St Thomas was an entire forest,
containing a variety of trees, which, though barren, were extremely
verdant. These trees were all remarkably tall and straight, their
branches all drawn close to the stems, and not spreading out as with us.
After clearing away a great part of the forest, the inhabitants built a
principal town called _Pouoasan_, which has an excellent harbour. The
principal dependence of the settlers in this island is upon their sugars,
which they exchange yearly with the merchants who trade thither, for
flour in barrels, wines, oil, cheese, leather, swords, glass beads,
drinking-cups, pater-nosters, and _buzios_, which are a small kind of
shells, called by the Italians _white porcelain_, and which pass in
Ethiopia as money. The Europeans who reside on this island depend much
for provisions on the ships, as they cannot subsist on the fare used by
the Negroes. The slaves employed in their sugar plantations are procured
from Guinea, Benin, and Congo; an