On the 31st, at 3 o’clock in the afternoon, we set sail for Pernambuco. On the second night after we left, while I was walking the quarter-deck with the captain, the watch forward reported a sail close on the weather-bow; the crew were immediately piped to quarters, and in less than five minutes were all on deck ready for action. Shortly afterwards we saw the vessel pass us at some distance and disappear. As these packets generally carry home a large amount of specie to England, it was not without reason that the captain prepared himself for what might happen, especially on a coast where suspicious craft are not unfrequently hovering about. There was something exciting in this little incident, and it afforded matter for conversation on the following day. After a passage of nine days, land was descried early in the morning from the mast-head, and in the course of a few hours we could see it from the deck, rising above the horizon like a long black cloud. On nearing the coast, it presented a very flat and barren-like aspect, forming a great and unpromising contrast to the magnificent entry to the bay of Rio de Janeiro. The town being built nearly on a level with the sea, we could only obtain a view of that portion of it which immediately skirts the shore, the houses and the cocoa-nut trees appearing above the horizon. No part of the coast within many leagues of Pernambuco rises to any height, except that whereon the old town, called Olinda, stands, and which is situated about three miles north of Recife, the name of the seaport. While standing in for the harbour, we passed a number of fishing-boats, of a very peculiar construction; they are called Jangadas, and formed of four, or more, logs of wood lashed together, having a mast and a very large sail, a fixed stool-like seat, but no bulwarks, so that the waves constantly break over them; they sail with remarkable speed, and often venture to a great distance from land. A few of the same craft may be seen at Bahia, but none at Rio. The light wood of which they are formed is obtained from a species of _Apeiba_, a genus allied to our own Linden-tree. We anchored in the outer roads about 12 o’clock, and after the lapse of an hour and a half, a pilot came on board, and conducted us into the harbour, which is quite a natural one, being formed by a reef that runs along the coast, at a little distance from the shore; the entrance is through a breach, upon the south side of which is a light-house and a small fort. A very heavy swell runs outside the reef and breaks over it, but there is always calm water within; and at full tide it is sufficiently deep to float the largest merchant vessels that visit the port.