of the grotesque than the picturesque. We had entered the tropics, and the heat increasing, although we were almost constantly favored with a fine cool sea-breeze, our dining-saloon was becoming too warm for comfort. This was somewhat remedied by resorting to the _punka-frame_,--being a frame, as its name implies, covered with muslin and placed over the table, where at meal-time it was put in motion by the machinery of the vessel, and served all the purposes of a fan. The weather was charming, and we steamed along as quietly as though on a placid river. We had a kind and polite company of passengers, and there being clergymen among the number, prayers were had in the cabin morning and evening, and religious services were held in the dining-saloon every Sunday, to which all were invited. Our experienced and gentlemanly captain and his officers were men to inspire confidence; and the rough passage through the Gulf Stream had fully satisfied us that our vessel was a stanch and firm sailing craft, and also that whatever experience and skill could do for our safety during the voyage, would be done. On the morning of the 9th of November we sighted St. Antonio, the northernmost of the Cape de Verd Islands. The atmosphere was hazy, and at a distance of twenty miles the island had the appearance of a bank of clouds resting upon the horizon. On closer observation, however, we saw the rugged sides of the mountain steeps; and what had appeared to be a heavy, dark cloud, became the well-defined crest of a mountain, which loomed up in the centre of the island to the height of seven thousand four hundred feet above the level of the sea. We coasted for some time within four or five miles of its rocky, precipitous sides, finding it sublime in lofty peaks, deep gorges, and barren wastes, which, with its shadowy ravines, presented a series of grandly unique pictures. The sea was of the purest aqua-marine hue,--a lovely, tropical sea,--and so clear that one could easily follow the movements of the finny tribe far down in what seemed to be the deepest deep. The Cape de Verd Islands belong to Portugal, and are of volcanic formation, many of them being nothing more than masses of barren rocks and mountains. They are three hundred miles distant from the coast of Africa, and have a hot and unhealthy climate. We were to stop for coals at Porte au Grande, the chief port of the island of St. Vincent, and, leaving the shores of St. Antonio, a sail of thirteen miles brought us to the entrance of the fine bay which forms the harbor of this island. On nearing the shore we found the scenery more wildly picturesque in jagged rocks, and wonderful mountain peaks, than at St. Antonio; and it did not require any very great effort of the imagination to transform the singularly castellated and battlemented cliffs into ruined castles and fortresses of the olden time.