AN EXPEDITION TO THE SALVAGE ISLANDS. 407 



leeward. A Spanish schooner our men said, and they determined 

 to hail her, if possible, and ask for information. She was running 

 before the wind, heading evidently for Las Palmas, and we bore 

 down on her to cut her off, which we succeeded in doing after 

 steaming for an hour and a half. When within a quarter of a 

 mile we hoisted our Spanish ensign with a knot tied in it (!), and 

 whistled, and presently had the satisfaction of seeing the object 

 of our pursuit wear slowly round and at the same time hoist 



French colours. The French barquantine Georges er she 



turned out to be (part of the name being painted on the after 

 ports, which were raised, was illegible), from Havre to Las 

 Palmas. We steamed as near as we could as she lay hove to, 

 rolling heavily, and the captain told us, as near as we could 

 understand, that the Salvages lay sixty-six miles N.W. This was 

 at 8 a.m. We thanked him, bore up once more, and shaped our 

 course N.W. The weather was not very inviting, and at intervals 

 it came on very thick. At three o'clock on Monday afternoon, as 

 it was obvious that we could not make the Salvages that day, we 

 decided to put back for the purpose of making the Peak of 

 TenerifYe and taking fresh bearings from that point. Accordingly 

 we steered south, going easily with wind and sea, and at 5.30, not 

 a little to our surprise, the men descried the Peak up among the 

 clouds. Once more the ' Pedro's ' head was pointed northward, 

 and our true course having been determined to every one's 

 satisfaction, though not without a great deal of talking, we 

 steamed ahead. All night we went slowly, as there was a good 

 deal of swell, and we did not want to make the Salvages by 

 running on to them ; and very soon after daylight we made out, to 

 our very great joy, first one and then another blue bump on the 

 horizon — the Salvages without a doubt. At eight o'clock we 

 were off the Great Piton, described in the Admiralty chart as 

 three miles long, which it certainly is not. Here we landed one of 

 our party and three men, and the/ Pedro ' then proceeded to Great 

 Salvage, some nine miles off, where everything was safely landed 

 by 11.30, the passage having taken us 44 hours. The 'Pedro,' 

 having revisited the Great Piton in the afternoon, and brought 

 back the rest of our party, started on her return for Las Palmas 

 early on the morning of Wednesday, April 24th. We must not 

 omit to mention our indebtedness to Sir M. J. T. Cabral de 

 Noronha, of Madeira, the present owner of the Salvages, for, on 



