English colors flying, but the brig displayed none; our officers had on English uniforms, and our marines were dressed in red coats. The captain gave the word to "man the sweeps," and all hands turned to, with a will to propel our ship toward the object of our anticipated capture.

We now gained upon her fast, and at 5, P. M., she displayed English colors. We could see that she had several guns on a side, but that her crew were not very numerous. In about two hours more we were within hailing distance, and ordered her to heave to, but her captain did not choose to comply with this order; we accordingly threw a shot across her forefoot, which the spunky Briton returned without any ceremony. We now gave him a general discharge from our battery; but he was determined to die game, and returned it; but it was no equal match, and in about four minutes he was completely silenced. We then ordered him to send his boat on board us, which order he promptly complied with this time. She proved to be from Pernambuco bound for London, with a valuable cargo of cotton, sugar and dyewoods, and her officers were ignorant that war existed between the United States and Great Britain. We removed her crew into our own vessel, and sent her home in charge of a prizemaster and seven men, where she arrived in safety.

This capture put new life and animation into our crew, and all our thoughts and conversation were of prizes and fortunes to be made upon the ocean. I shared in the general joy, yet I could not but look with pity upon the captain of the brig, who appeared to be a very worthy man, and who said that he was ruined by our good success, as he had all his worldly property in the vessel which was now on its way to the United States. As for the crew, they appeared to care nothing about their capture. They were not English, and felt no allegiance to Great Britain, and they were well treated on board our ship, as our captain would not permit them to be plundered of the most trifling article, and several of them wished to enlist among our crew; but this was not permitted.

Three days after this, we fell in with and captured another brig. We chased

her several hours, and came up with her about 7 o'clock, P. M., gave her a shot, but she did not regard it; then gave her the first division of guns, when she immediately hove to. We sent a boat with a lieutenant on board her. and the crew were found to be in such a state of beastly intoxication, that they were obliged to throw them down into our boat. The masier was the only sober man on board. We got this drunken gang on board as well as we could, and the mate crawled along and sat down on one of our gun-carriages. This man did not comprehend that he was a prisoner, but assured some of our men that if he had taken them, he would treat them well; but when the intoxicating fumes passed off, he found that the saddle was on the other horse. This brig proved to be from Bahia, with a cargo of one thousand bales of cotton, mounting 10 guns, and having a crew of 18 men, and they, too, were ignorant of the war. We manned her out, and despatched her for the United States, where she arrived in safety.

We had now the crews of both the brigs on board, but our captain promised to release them whenever he had an opportunity; and this soon occurred; for, about a week after, we fell in with a Portuguese schooner, bound from Lisbon for New-York, when he released them all, and gave them bread and beef enough to subsist them until the schooner should arrive in port.

This was a very common proceeding on board privateers, as it required some of their men to guard the prisoners, and thus weakened the effective strength of the crew, and our object was merchandise rather than men; but the English acted on a different policy. They took care to retain all the prisoners they captured-knowing that they thus weakened the naval force of their enemy. It was for this reason that they had so many more prisoners at the close of the war than the Americans had.

About the middle of October, when we were cruising along leisurely, propelled by the light winds of the northeast trades, one beautiful moonlight night we descried a sail far off toward the eastern horizon. All hands were piped to make sail, and we tacked, and stood for the stranger. All hands were beat to quarters, and our ship put in

warlike array. Presently we discovered her to be a ship, and an armed one, and, to appearance, of a very superior force to us, and we accordingly tacked again to the westward, and put all sail on our ship-being as eager now to shun acquaintance, as we had, a little while before, been to court it. The stranger was coming up with us, apparently without an effort, with nothing flying above his top-sails; while we had top-gallant sails and studding-sails set below and aloft. The nearer she approached, the larger she loomed, and we all came to the conclusion that she was a frigate, and that we could not much longer elude her; our only hope was, that she was an American. But we had made up our minds that our cruise was up, and the men deserted their quarters, and went below to pack up their bags and prepare for their transportation on board the frigate. In about two hours from the time we first espied her, she was up with us, and the discharge of a musket from her fore-castle soon brought us to. Then the usual inquiry was made from her -"What ship's that?" and, on our reply, the same voice immediately called out" How do you do, Captain W.?" We now recognised our supposed frigate as a large privateer ship belonging to our own port. She was a third part larger than we were, and of more force, and was remarkable for her speed, as in many trials she was never beaten. Right glad were we all at this meeting on the ocean; and our own crew were particularly glad that we had found a friend where we expected a foe. Our captain went on board of her, and remained a couple of hours. When he returned, we parted company, and each ship wended its way again on its own course.

Half of the time allotted for our cruise had now expired, and our water grew short, and the little stock of vegetables which we brought from port, had been long since expended; so our captain resolved to put into one of the Cape de Verd islands, to replenish our water, and to lay in a fresh stock of vegetable provisions. We made sail, therefore, in the direction of these islands; and on the 1st day of November we made the Isle of Sal, and in a few hours after Bonavista. Cruising along, we made the Isle of May the next

VOL. XVIII.-NO. XCI.

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morning, and in the afternoon we came o anchor in the Bay of Porto Praya, in the Island of St. Jago, the principal one of the group. Our lieutenant went on shore in the cutter, and obtained permission from the authorities to fill our water-casks. Accordingly, all hands were busy the next morning in getting our empty casks on shore, and filling them at a spring, which was situated back of the town, in a valley. It was no easy task to get our casks to and from the shore, on account of the surf or rollers which beat upon the beach, frequently capsizing our boats, and causing the men to strike out beyond the surf for safety.

These islands belong to the Portuguese, and are inhabited principally by negroes. The soil yields many kinds of vegetables, almost spontaneously; for what little culture we saw, scarcely deserved the name. Here we obtained the most delicious oranges, bananas, and sour-sops, in exchange for old clothes, which appeared to be the only kind of currency in demand with the inhabitants. Pigs, fowls, goats, and cassava root, were procured for the ship's use. This last article is about the size and appearance of a potato, and from it is made arrow-root and tapioca. It is poisonous in its raw state, but boiling extracts its poisonous principle, and it then becomes a very innocent and nutricious food. Our sailors, likewise, procured quite a stock of monkeys, which are numerous on this island, and some birds of the parrot race.

The town was of inconsiderable size, and the houses were of a mean and low construction. It was situated on a hill, and the watering-place, as I have said, was back of it, in the valley. Here, all the water for the use of the town was procured; and in this valley were the gardens; and paths led down the hill from the town to them. Jackasses were continually going up and down these paths, laden with water or vegetables, or going to procure them.

The inhabitants appeared to be very poor, and sadly deficient of clothing, which caused our second-hand clothes to be of more value to them than money. It was no uncommon sight, to see a man with the uniform coat of an officer, large rents, in which betrayed the absence of a shirt, a gold-laced chapeaude-bras, and military small clothes,

while the legs and feet were as bare as the hand of dame Nature fashioned them. The officer who boarded us, when we arrived in the bay, was one of the originals of this picture; and he strutted about our deck in his bare feet, a negro holding an umbrella to shade his sooty face, with as much self-complacency, as any full-rigged dandy on the pavé of the city.

There was a battery at the entrance of the bay; its exterior was imposing, and I know nothing of its condition from my own observation, but it was the subject of a good deal of merriment among our crew. One of their galley stories was, that our captain offered to salute the town, provided the salute would be returned; and that the governor declined, because his carriages were so rotten that he was fearful of dismantling his guns; this catastrophe having happened to several, the last time they were discharged. I one day witnessed the parade of the guard; and the sight would have called into use the pencil of Cruikshank, had he witnessed it; for there is no portion of hyperbole in saying, that there was not a single serviceable musket, nor a complete suit of clothing in the whole squad, from commander downward.

In three days we had completed our watering; and on the fourth, we set sail from Porto Praya, with our decks full of pigs and goats, and our taffrail strung with bananas, and each mess reinforced with at least one monkey; and for all these, I believe, not a single dollar in money had been paid; its place being supplied with old clothes and ship's stores. We now headed for the coast of Brazil; and we saw nothing but the wide expanse of sky and ocean, for fifteen days, when we spoke a Portuguese brig from Lisbon, bound to Pernambuco, with a cargo of salt and wine; and the next day we spoke another brig, for the same destination. On the 21st of November, two hours after midnight, we were aroused by the cry of All hands ahoy! and on gaining the deck, we found that a sail was in sight on our weather-bow, standing to the south and westward. At half past 2, we tacked ship, and got to the windward of her, and gave chase. The stranger soon evinced no very great reluctance to a meeting, for in an hour or two, although we did not gain much

upon her, she hauled up to the wind, and stood for us, having Spanish colors displayed. We perceived that she was a large and warlike looking ship, much superior to us in size, and showing a battery of more than 20 guns; but the general opinion forward of the cabin was, that she was an armed merchantvessel, and that her crew did not correspond with her great size and her superior armament. The sailors and petty officers were ripe for a conflict, anticipating, with much certainty, her speedy capture, and indulging in golden anticipations of a rich prize. At 6 A. M., we were near enough to throw a shot across her, but she did not heed it. We then discharged a gun directly into her, when she hauled down her Spanish flag and run up the English We then gave her a broadside, which she was not slow in returning, and the conflict went on with rapidity; but our distance was such that not many of her shot came on board of us. Our guns were sixes ad long aines; hers were evidently of a larger calibre, but being short ones, they did not throw the shot so far as ours. One of her shot struck our mizen-mast, and more than half cut it off; another carried away our spanker-boom, and some of our other spars were wounded, and some of our running and standing rigging shot away; but not a man was hurt.

one.

We could see that our shot was doing execution on the enemy, but to what extent we knew not. Our men were anxious for a closer conflict; but he whose right it was to command, did not order it. So we battered away in this manner for two good hours and a quarter, when the command came to cease firing. When we ceased, the enemy ceased also. Refreshments were now served out to our crew, and the general expectation was, that we should now run down to her, give her a broadside, and board her; and our men were ripe for it.

Here we lay, looking at each other, and doing nothing in the fighting line for nearly an hour, when the enemy made sail to the south, we following the example; and the English vessel occasionally firing a few shots at us. Shortly after we tacked to the northward, and he did the same; but we outsailed him, and his shot did not reach us; and in a little while he wore ship and left us.