As soon as our dispatches were in readiness, we proceeded on our passage for England; the morning was beautiful, and as the men were heaving up the anchor, my heart felt an inward sensation of joy and gratitude to our Creator, that he had been pleased to bring us so far safe on our voyage; we made sail with a steady breeze, and soon lost sight of land. After we had been at sea about two days, close on our weather-bow we observed a water-spout; when we first saw it, it was whole and entire, and was in shape like a speaking trumpet, the small end downwards, and reaching to the sea, and the large end terminating in a black thick cloud: the spout itself was very black, and the more so the higher up; it seemed to be exactly perpendicular to the horizon, and its sides perfectly smooth, without the least ruggedness where it fell. The spray of the sea rose to a considerable height, which had somewhat the appearance of smoke; from the first time we saw it, it continued whole about a minute, and till it was quite dissipated three minutes; it began to waste from below, and gradually up, while the upper part remained entire, without any visible alteration, till at last it ended in black clouds, upon which a heavy rain fell in the neighbourhood. There was but little wind, and the sky was otherwise serene. On our rounding the Cape we experienced a very heavy gale, which continued for the space of ten days. We arrived at St. Helena in about ten days after clearing the Cape of Good Hope. The approach to this Island is tremendous, it being an immense large rock in the midst of the sea, on which there is not the least appearance of verdure, houses, or indeed any sign of inhabitants, till you arrive at the anchorage, which is to leeward of the Island; and in turning round the corner of the rock is a fort, close to the water's edge, from whence they make all ship's heave to, till they have sent a boat on board from the Admiral; and in case no attention is paid to their signal, they fire a shot. After proceeding a little way, the town is discovered in the midst of a valley, and has a very picturesque appearance. The produce of the Island is potatoes and yams. The yams are used in time of great scarcity of wheat, for bread; the inhabitants are under the necessity of boiling them 12 hours and baking them, before they can eat them; and in fact, many of the Islanders prefer them to bread. The coast produces an amazing quantity of fish, particularly mackarel, which are in great abundance, and run in shoals about six fathom under water. At this time Napoleon resided at Longwood.