Aug.] 



IMAGINARY DANGERS. 



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Verd Islands. Porto Furno is on the east side of the island, and is a 

 good harbour for vessels under two hundred tons. It has a narrow 

 entrance, and if large ships visit this port, they will be obliged to 

 warp out, which may be done with great ease in the morning. But I 

 should recommend Port Furneo that lies on the south side of the 

 island, or Porto Faj en-dago, on the west side for ships to touch at for 

 refreshments, wood, water, &c. as those places are both good har- 

 bours, and the best for obtaining fruit, vegetables, beef, pork, goats, 

 wood, and water of any in the whole group. Ships bound to this 

 island, need apprehend no danger in approaching it on either side, 

 more than one cable's length from the shore. The inhabitants are 

 industrious and obliging, and the ladies are sprightly, intelligent, and 

 modest ; and are particularly partial to Americans. 



Before closing this chapter, and taking leave of the Cape Verd 

 Islands, I think it proper to remark that some charts are marked with 

 reefs that do not actually exist. It is my firm conviction that in passing 

 between these islands and the African coast, nothing need be feared from 

 the Porgas shoal, which is said to be about mid-channel. I am aware 

 that caution is the parent of security, and that it is best to err on the 

 safe side of the question. But I have examined the log-books of many 

 ships which have passed over the spot which this shoal was supposed 

 to occupy, and have become convinced that it does not exist. 



The Bonetta shoal and rocks have also been reported as dangers 

 carefully to be avoided by ships passing between Africa and the Cape 

 Verds. They are said to lie forty-two leagues east-by-north from the 

 north end of Bonavista ; with shoal water on them, three miles in 

 length north-east and south-west, and about half that breadth. This 

 reef may also be put down as not existing, for I have crossed the sit- 

 uation assigned to it, and have examined the log-books of more than 

 twenty ships who have vainly endeavoured to sight it. 



There is likewise said to be a reef of rocks lying ten leagues to the 

 north-east of Bonavista, of about the length of two cables, and of a 

 breadth of half that distance, nearly even with the surface of the water. 

 As most of the ships running for the islands of Sal or Bonavista first 

 make them bearing from west to south-west, it is strange that the reef 

 just mentioned has never been seen by any of them ; and the fact that 

 it has not furnished just reasons to doubt its existence. 



We were now prepared to pursue our voyage to its ultimate point of 

 destination. More than thirty days had elapsed since we left the port 

 of New-York, in which time we had crossed the wide Atlantic, and 

 sighted every island and rock in the Cape Yerd group, and landed on 

 the most of them. The reader must think it high time that I said 

 something concerning the merits of my vessel, in this her first essay 

 on the element of her adoption. I will do so before I proceed any 

 further ; and the only reason which induced me to defer it until the 

 present moment was to give the Antarctic a fair trial before I recorded 

 my testimony of her character. It is this : — 



A better sea-boat never floated upon blue water, smooth or rough, 

 than the schooner Antarctic, She has equalled my wishes, and trans- 

 cended my expectations. I shall strive hard to render her name im- 



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