the eastward, even provided our boats had not been swamped, we were without a supply of water, and must have perished from thirst before we could have reached the ship. On our landing at Champion Bay we were met upon the beach by the three magistrates of the settlement, and a large proportion of the inhabitants, who anxiously inquired if we had been wrecked. On our answering in the negative, they inquired where we were from. On our again answering, the barques Pacific and Europa, at the Abrolhas’ Islands, they evidently regarded us with suspicion--thinking that we were either mutineers or deserters, who had fabricated this story for our own purposes; and I believe that, had they dared, or even had they thought themselves the strongest party, they would have clapped us all in limbo, until assured of the truth of the story we told. We heard whisperings as to our physical ability. The boats’ crews being picked men, they said, were a very rugged-looking set of fellows; and the fact of each man being provided with his belt and sheath-knife seemed a recommendation to their respect. Then, again, had there been any difficulty, the penal population, who are largely in the majority, would have readily joined the strangers, in hopes of being delivered by them from their penal servitude. Our first queries were, as to whether whales had been seen in any numbers on the coast the present season. They stated, that, from some unknown cause, the whales’ food was not so plenty as it is during most years at this period. The meducæ, which exist in great quantities, or rather numbers, generally by their volume gave to the water a yellowish hue, but at present scarcely any indication of their existence was perceptible; therefore, although the whales had appeared as usual, they made but a short stay. The Port Gregory fishery had been fortunate enough, during their brief visit, to capture five of them--making quite a profitable season’s business. They took their last whale some weeks since--about the same time that we saw whales at the Abrolhas’; and I am persuaded that we were too late for the season. On our informing them that there were no whales at the Abrolhas’ Islands, they professed much surprise, and would scarcely give credence to our intelligence; stating that, for years, every vessel which had passed these islands had borne testimony to the immense number of whales that frequented the waters around them.