At noon of April 20th we saw the Abrolhas’ Islands, and a reef in their vicinity known as the Turtle Dove, which, from observation, we found considerably out of the position laid down on the chart for it. Immediately on closing with the land we lowered away two boats--one of which went fishing, the other prospecting; at dark both returned, the fishing boat with several barrels of snappers, jew-fish, and gropers; the prospecting party landed on Long Island, and found it a long, narrow strip of coral reef covered with broken shells and fragments of coral cast up by the surf. A few mangroves and stunted bushes comprised the vegetation. Large numbers of birds were present, and on some portions of the island were extensive deposits of guano, though so mixed with coral and fractured portions of shells as to be unfit for the purposes of the agriculturist. On the following day we again went in, and, carrying the boat across a narrow part of the island, we launched her again in the so-called bay, and proceeded to make soundings, by which we ascertained the feasibility of anchoring here. We also visited Middle Island, where a small mound and a head-board gave notice of the interment of a poor remnant of mortality. The board bore the inscription, “Thomas Williams, deceased April, 1851;” purporting to have been placed there by the captain of a schooner. From a person who knew something of the history of the vicinity, I learned that the deceased had been an American seaman, a colored man, who had left an American whale-ship in Freemantle, years previous; there he had married, joined the schooner and set out as one of a whaling party to the Abrolhas’; but before he had reached the scene of operations, he had fought his last battle, and been conquered by death. On Middle Island there is a rough house erected, which has remained for many years; as also the ruins of a try works--memorials of a whaling party. The tenement is built of stone, the roof of mahogany, and, no doubt, was formerly quite a substantial building; but the north-westers that howl through the islands have made sad havoc with its fair proportions, and it is no longer tenantable.