I have before me the St. Helena Almanac for 1858, which contains much information regarding the island--its trade, and inhabitants. From it I learn that the population numbers five thousand four hundred and ninety souls, and to attend to the health of this population, there is but one doctor of medicine; so here is a fair held for any Yankee disciple of Esculapius who wishes for employment, and does not object to leaving home to find it. The amount of importation for the year 1856, reached the sum of one hundred and one thousand five hundred and sixty-two pounds, of which one-fourth was through American whaleships engaged in the South Sea fishery; the balance was from all parts of the world. The exports for the same time amounted to twenty-four thousand nine hundred and twenty-five pounds, twenty-two thousand five hundred and eighty-five pounds of which was to the United States. These facts show the importance of the whaling trade to the revenue of the island. This book also contains information relative to the government-officers, the various churches, the telegraph department, &c., of the island; yet, as we are in a hurry to get homeward, we will not tarry for the consideration of further statistics, but return to our ship. On the afternoon of the 2d inst., having ran close in to land, we were becalmed and in imminent risk of going ashore; but by lowering the boats and strenuously pulling we managed to get the ship’s head pointed seaward. A light breeze springing up, we were soon relieved from our apprehensions. At 6¹⁄₂ o’clock P. M. the captain came off, and immediately the order was given to square away for home. Every one at once turned-to with a will: the yards were manned in a twinkling; studdingsail booms and studdingsail rigging were rigged and rove aloft and alow, until the masts wore, as it were, an entire sheet of canvass from the royal yards to the deck, extending twice or thrice our beam, and assisting to the utmost our expeditious return. But the wind was aft and light, and our ship by no means kept pace with our impatient desires. Yet directly onward she made her way, unmarked by incident, until within a few degrees of the Equator. Here the doldorums (those pests of the homeward-bound!) occasioned a delay which well nigh again exhausted our patience. These doldorums are neither one thing nor the other: they are not positive calms, neither are they gales. For instance, one may wake at sunrise, find a pleasant breeze blowing, the wind fair, sky clear, and not a sign in the horizon on which to base a supposition of change: under this impression he will lounge around, congratulate himself on the ship’s progress, and occupy his mind with thoughts of home; but, pausing, he glances to the sails, and finds them flapping from the scarcity of wind; and awakened from his reverie by the cheerless booming of the canvass, he directs his attention to the horizon, and finds haze or clouds in every quarter, portending