loating three or four feet
out of the water, have every appearance of rocks; and, indeed, if run
upon on a dark night, prove nearly as fatal.

March 3rd.--Anchored off the town of Porto Praya, Island of St. Jago, in
nine fathoms. Porto Praya is a miserable town, built on a most unhealthy
spot, there being an extensive marsh behind it, which, from its miasma,
creates a great mortality among the inhabitants. The consul is a native
of Bona Vista: two English consuls having fallen victims to the climate
in quick succession, no one was found very willing to succeed to such a
certain provision from the Foreign Office. The interior of the island
is, however, very different from what would be expected from the sight
of Porto Praya. Some of the officers paid a visit to the valley of St.
Domingo, which they described as a perfect paradise, luxuriant with
every tropical fruit. Porto Praya is renowned for very large sharks. I
was informed by a captain in Her Majesty's service, that once, when he
anchored at Porto Praya, he had left the ship to go on shore in one of
the twenty-two-foot gigs, not unaptly nick-named coffins in the service.
He had not pulled more than a cable's length from the ship, when a
shark, nearly as long as the gig, came up swimming with great velocity
after them; and as he passed, the animal shouldered the boat, so as
nearly to upset it: as it was, the boat took in the water over the
gunwale. As the animal appeared preparing for another attack, the
captain thought it advisable to pull alongside, and go on shore in the
cutter instead of his own boat; and on this large boat the shark did not
make a second attempt.

April 25th.--Anchored in Simon's Bay, Cape of Good Hope. Sailed again on
the 7th of May, and fell in with a favourable wind; and too much of it.
For six days we were scudding before it under a close-reefed
main-topsail and fore-staysail. On the 10th we lost one of the best men
in the ship, the sailmaker, Charles Downing, who fell overboard; the
ship was rounded to, the life-buoy let go, but we saw nothing of him.
June 7th saw Christmas Islands, and on the same afternoon the land of
Java. On the 11th we arrived off the town of Anger, in company with a
fleet of merchant vessels of all nations and of all rigs. Having been so
long without a fresh meal, we were not sorry to find ourselves
surrounded by boats loaded with fish, fruit, and vegetables; we ate
enormously, and they made us pay in proportion.