On Tuesday, November 27th, we again saw sperm whales, lowered all the boats in chase, but they were going too fast for us, and, pulling a long time with no success, gave up and came on board. The next day we saw the island of St. Antonio, and ran in toward the land. The inhabitants of this island, like all others of the Cape Verd group, are Portuguese. They subsist principally on the yam, sweet potato, cocoanut, banana, orange, etc., and fish; live in nearly a nude state; are, as a general thing, treacherous, thieving, ignorant, and superstitious. The Roman Catholic religion is the only one tolerated. On Thursday, the 29th, we passed the island of St. Jago, another of the same group. We were now steering for Fogo, which, on the following morning at daybreak, we saw distant about nine miles. On this island is a volcano, whose summit is one and a quarter miles above the level of the sea. From this volcano the island derives its name, “Fogo, the Island of Fire.” Some years since an eruption took place, which destroyed most of the vegetation, and many of the inhabitants lost their lives. Those that escaped took boats and proceeded to the island of Bravo, a few miles distant. Our captain sent two of our boats in to the shore, for the purpose of trading with the natives, exchanging calico, beads, looking-glasses, trinkets, etc., for various fruits. The opportunity now being given us of visiting dry land once more, we accepted it joyfully. As we drew in near to the shore, the island presented a beautiful appearance; the mountains and hills were covered with green verdure; the natives were seen flocking down their sides, some loaded with baskets of fruit of various kinds, some driving a miserable-looking donkey before them, with a basket of fruit on one side and a pig on the other; here, too, might be seen a great strapping Portuguese woman, with a pig over her shoulder, shouting as loud as her burden squealed, and all hallooing to the boats; the waves breaking over the reef in thunder tones, and all together creating one of the wildest scenes of confusion we have ever witnessed. We finally found, after pulling along the shore for some distance, an opening in the reef, where we might land without danger of getting our boats stove to pieces, and pulled in. As soon as we landed we were surrounded by nearly two hundred Portuguese, and a scene now ensued that beggars description. Imagine a flock of two hundred birds, all chattering, about fifty hogs squealing, goats bleating, donkeys braying, and sailors shouting and laughing, and you have some faint idea of the real scene. Some of our men, too, went in for a little fun. One of them, Tom W., a regular wag, managed to steal a Portuguese’s donkey for a short ride up the mountain and back. When he returned, the donkey’s master wanted the moderate sum of seven dollars for the use of the animal. Tom told him he would give him his note for ten years;