Before the sun had sunk behind the forest of palm-trees, which clothe the mainland of Africa, we found ourselves snugly at anchor, in a fine harbour, surrounded by twenty or thirty coasting craft, and several large Brazilian and Lisbon vessels. The town presented the most respectable and pleasing appearance; our cares were lulled to rest, for the present, being most grateful to the Giver of all good, for having conducted us thus far in safety, though sickness and sorrow, anxiety and death, had caused sad havoc among us--making the ocean the grave and the winding-sheet of many a brave and worthy heart, although clothed with a rough exterior--leaving a sad chasm among companions and friends, among parents and wives, and poor fatherless children. The last death which took place among us, was that of a most worthy and excellent young man, Midshipman Lewis H. Roumfert of Mount Holly, Pennsylvania. Had he lived, he would have been an ornament to his profession, and a most useful member of society; but God willed it otherwise, and, therefore, we ought not to complain. A short distance to the eastward of the island of Socotra, in the Indian ocean, he was laid in his watery grave. The solemn and sublime service of the Protestant Episcopal church was read by our worthy surgeon, Dr. Ticknor; the main-topsail being aback, and the colours hoisted half-mast. The topsails being filled again, we left him, poor fellow, sinking down into an earthless grave: “Down, down through waters fathomless,” _there_ to remain, until the last trump shall sound, and the sea shall disgorge its mighty dead. We had scarcely dropped anchor, before an official visit was made by a lieutenant. A salute was fired in the morning, which was returned by an equal number of guns from the castle. The commandant of the castle, Juan Alexander de Almedia, and the acting-governor, was desirous of receiving us at the fort with military honours, and a message was sent to that effect, but which was declined; and at noon we landed, and were received by the commandant at the grand entrance, with a double file of soldiers with “present arms.” This noble fort was built by Juan de Castro, in 1518, and it is certainly, for the most part, in a fine state of preservation. It is called Santo Sebastiano, and it appears capable of resisting any force which probably will ever be sent against it, notwithstanding the honeycombed state of many of the iron cannon, and the very weak state of the garrison. It is of a quadrangular form, having an extensive bomb-proof citadel, capable of protecting all the inhabitants of the town, in case of a siege, with sufficient magazines for munitions of war and provisions.