Before the sun-set of the preceding day, we had discovered through our glasses, the town of _Congoon_, under a peak, close in the eastern vicinity of the _Barnhill_. It then appeared in a wood of dates, above which rose the domes of mosques. The _Sheik_ of _Congoon_ is represented as a young and spirited Arab, who can raise a body of two thousand cavalry, and who is able to lead them. His town is resorted to for wood, but, as far as we could judge at a distance, the date is the only tree of the neighbourhood. We suffered much from the heat in the night, but when the moon rose over the _Barnhill_, a little refreshing breeze sprang up, which gave us much relief. An Arab ship was not far from us, and I could just hear their singing on board. It brought to my recollection some of the moonlight scenes in the _Archipelago_; for the music of these Arabs struck me as being very similar to that which I have heard on board a Greek or Sclavonian ship, when the _lyra_ accompanies the voice of some naval Apollo, and is followed by a chorus of his shipmates. We were off _Cape Verdistan_ this morning, and descried the _Hummocks_ of _Kenn_. The shoal that runs out from _Cape Verdistan_, is rendered dangerous by a reef of rocks which extends itself about six or seven miles from the shore. There are good mud soundings on the shoal, and a ship may cross its extremity without danger, though it is as well to give it a good birth. We stood off in the night of the 12th. The soundings in the shoal as laid down by _Mac Cluer_ are not all correspondent to those which we got. We were in seven fathoms for more than an hour, and he has not got such a sounding amongst his. From seven we got to half six, and then to four, when we thought it time to tack. The cause which has been assigned for our ignorance of the gulph, is the prudential reserve which has influenced our Indian governments in their transactions with the states of Persia and Arabia. To avoid suspicion and complaint, they have never professedly made surveys of the shores, though much might yet have been done indirectly, if the object had been considered of sufficient importance. Few, except merchant vessels visited the gulph; and as the charts, which they already possessed (and what is better, their own experience) served their purpose sufficiently in the line of their own navigation, there was seldom any particular demand for more correct surveys. The geographer and philosopher indeed require something more, and therefore it is still matter of regret, that we are comparatively ill-informed in countries, where we have had easy opportunities of acquiring knowledge.