| 106 "The loss of Bro. Hanks was severely felt by us all, for he was truly a good man and a worthy brother. On the 9th of November we arrived at St. Nicholas, one of Cape Verde Islands. Several of us went ashore, procured donkeys, and rode to Bravo, a village six miles in the interior. The inhabitants of these islands are mostly black, and speak the Portuguese language; their religion the Catholic. The streets are from four to eight feet wide, and the houses are one story high, made of round stones and clay mortar. The soil is sterile and unproductive. These islands are of volcanic origin, and the island of Fogo has a volcano which may sometimes be seen in a state of eruption. After leaving these islands we steered for Tristan D'Acunha, and on the 10th of December crossed the equator, and continued our way with a fine breeze until the 3d of January, 1844, we made the above-named island, situated in latitude 37° south, and longitude 20° west. On the 4th we encountered a severe gale which lasted twenty-four hours, in consequence of which we were unable to beat up to the island; but I learn that the island contains fifty inhabitants, descendants of one Glass, who was sergeant in the English Army, from which government he draws a pension, and is governor of the island. There are three islands in the group, only one inhabited; they also are of volcanic origin.
"On the 10th left these islands; and on the 25th doubled the Cape of Good Hope, and stood on for the island of St. Pauls, which we made on the 21st of February. We lowered three boats and caught twenty barrels of fish of the rock cod species. The next day we went on shore, where we found fifty or sixty miserable looking Frenchmen and one American from Albany; these were the only inhabitants of the island. The peculiar form of the island deserves some notice. This island seems to have been thrown up by strong volcanic action, forming in the center of the island a huge crater. From this crater on the south the land is sunk, leaving in the crater a basin or bay into which vessels of light draught may enter and have a safe and commodious harbor. In the center of this harbor no soundings can be found. From this basin or crater rises on all sides a hill, to
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