This is no unusual method of turning a penny, amongst those who visit this coast; and I have seen more than one instance of it. In some cases, the authorities wink at the fraud committed against the government; and, as the party who is fortunate enough to escape conviction trebles or quadruples the amount of his outlay, the temptation is strong to engage in the illicit traffic. Beside this budget of shipping news, it was said by the inhabitants of Albany, that gold in considerable quantities had been discovered by shepherds, about one hundred and fifty miles distant in the interior, and that a party was preparing to visit this El Dorado. At 2 o’clock in the afternoon of the 11th the boat returned; and, bracing forward, we stood to the westward, in hopes of seeing the Pamelia before she went into port; for we knew that it was the intention of her captain to touch at Vasse about the middle of the present month. On our passage we fell in with the barque Eagle, of New Bedford. She was employed in cutting a whale she had taken the day previous, and, as the weather was anything but good, she was having a dirty time. We afterwards learned that she had lost the greater part of the head in the operation. After a short time spent in company with her, and learning that the Pamelia had been seen a few days before, we resumed our course, and the day succeeding spoke her, and communicated the intelligence we had received at Albany. It was timely, too, as they were now bound in, and twenty-four hours’ delay might have been productive of serious consequences. On the 18th, her captain, knowing full well that to enter a port in the vicinity would be madness, made himself dependent upon the various ships on the ground to contribute a quota in the supply of water, &c., to enable him to take a short cruise, and reach the Mauritius. In pursuance of this idea, on the same day a raft of casks, in tow of one of the Pamelia’s boats, was brought alongside of our vessel, and made fast; then, according to orders, they were hoisted in. Our crew had an inkling of the affair, but said nothing, until they were ordered by the first officer to fill these casks, belonging to another ship, with the water from our own casks, which it had caused us so much labor and trouble to procure, and which would have to be replaced from one of the wells on the coast, under a burning sun, and through scorching sand. Under these circumstances, a flat refusal was accorded to the order; because we did not deem that our engagement obliged us to supply another ship with water, unless she was in absolute distress. All hands aboard, except the first and second officers, united in this view of the case. The mate expostulated, but found it useless. A messenger or spokesman was then dispatched to the captain, who acted with moderation; and the whole matter was amicably adjusted by the captain of the Pamelia complying with our terms; which