The sea-provision of these fishermen consisted of nothing more than a cask of water, and a bag of Cassada flour, which they called _Farinha de Pao_, or wooden flour; which, indeed, is a name which very well suits its taste and appearance. Their water-cask was large, as wide as their boat, and exactly fitted a place that was made for it in the ballast; it was impossible therefore to draw out any of its contents by a tap, the sides being, from the bottom to the top, wholly inaccessible; neither could any be taken out by dipping a vessel in at the head, for an opening sufficiently wide for that purpose would have endangered the loss of great part of it by the rolling of the vessel: their expedient to get at their water, so situated, was curious; when one of them wanted to drink, he applied to his neighbour, who accompanied him to the water-cask with a hollow cane about three feet long, which was open at both ends; this he thrust into the cask through a small hole in the top, and then, stopping the upper end with the palm of his hand, drew it out; the pressure of the air against the other end keeping in the water which it contained; to this end the person who wanted to drink applied his mouth, and the assistant then taking his hand from the other, and admitting the air above, the cane immediately parted with its contents, which the drinker drew off till he was satisfied. We stood off and on along the shore till the 12th, and successively saw a remarkable hill near Santo Espirito, then Cape St. Thomas, and then an island just without Cape Frio, which in some maps is called the Island of Frio, and which being high, with a hollow in the middle, has the appearance of two islands when seen at a distance. On this day we stood along the shore for Rio de Janeiro, and at nine the next morning made sail for the harbour. I then sent Mr. Hicks, my first lieutenant, before us in the pinnace, up to the city, to acquaint the Governor, that we put in there to procure water and refreshments; and to desire the assistance of a pilot to bring us into proper anchoring-ground. I continued to stand up the river, trusting to Mr. Bellisle’s draught, published in the _Petit Atlas Maritime_, Vol. II. No. 54., which we found very good, till five o’clock in the evening, expecting the return of my lieutenant; and just as I was about to anchor, above the island of Cobras, which lies before the city, the pinnace came back without him, having on board a Portuguese officer, but no pilot. The people in the boat told me, that my lieutenant was detained by the Viceroy till I should go on shore. We came immediately to an anchor; and, almost at the same time, a ten-oared boat, full of soldiers, came up and kept rowing round the ship, without exchanging a word: in less than a quarter of an hour, another boat came on board with several of the Viceroy’s officers, who asked whence we came; what was our cargo; the number of men and guns on board; the