At the expiration of a few days, the Perry proceeded on a cruise down the coast, towards the Congo River, encountering successively the British steamers Cyclops, Rattler, and Pluto. All vessels seen were boarded, and proved to be legal traders. Several days were spent between Ambriz and the Congo; and, learning from the Pluto--stationed off the mouth of the Congo River--that no vessels had, for a long time, appeared in that quarter, an idea, previously entertained, of proceeding up the river, was abandoned. The Perry was then worked up the coast towards Benguela. Among the many incidents occurring:--On one occasion, at three o’clock in the morning, when the character of the vessels could not be discerned, a sail suddenly appeared, when, as usual on making a vessel at night, the battery was ordered to be cleared away, and the men sent to the guns. The stranger fired a musket, which was instantly returned. Subsequent explanations between the commanders of the cruisers were given, that the first fire was made without the knowledge of the character of the vessel; and the latter was made to repel the former, and to show the character of the vessel. On boarding traders, the masters, in one or two instances, when sailing under a foreign flag, had requested the boarding-officer to search, and, after ascertaining her real character, to endorse the register. This elicited the following order to the boarding-officer: “If a vessel hoists the American flag; is of American build; has her name and place of ownership in the United States registered on her stern; or if she has but part of these indications of American nationality, you will, on boarding, ask for her papers, which papers you will examine and retain, if she excites suspicion of being a slaver, until you have searched sufficiently to satisfy yourself of her real character. Should the vessel be American, and doubts exist of her real character, you will bring her to this vessel; or, if it can be done more expeditiously, you will dispatch one of your boats; communicating such information as will enable the commander to give specific directions, or in person to visit the suspected vessel. “If the strange vessel be a foreigner, you will, on ascertaining the fact, leave her; declining, even at the request of the captain, to search the vessel, or to endorse her character,--as it must always be borne in mind, that our government does not permit the detention and search of American vessels by foreign cruisers; and, consequently, is scrupulous in observing towards the vessels of other nations, the same line of conduct which she exacts from foreign cruisers towards her own vessels.”