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fishing station for whales, which were formerly very numerous oti 

 this coast, and in the bays that indent it. The fishery is farmed by, 

 government to a company under the superintendance of a Captain 

 Mor * and a number of inferior officers. About 150 negroes are 

 employed on this station, but the number of whales now caught is 

 not so great as formerly, when the average was three or four hundred 

 in a season. Their conveniences for flinching or cutting up the fish 

 are extensive and well-contrived. Several fine piers project from 

 the shore into eighteen to twenty feet depth of water, on which are. 

 erected capstans, cranes, aud other requisite machinery. Hither 

 all the fish caught on the coast are brought. The boiling-house, 

 tanks, &c. are far superior to any thing of the kind at Greenland 

 dock, and indeed to all similar establishments in Europe. To give 

 an idea of their magnitude, it is sufficient to say, that in one range 

 there are twenty-seven very large boilers, and places for three more. 

 Their tanks are vast vaults, on some of which a boat might be 

 rowed with ease. We obtained a view of these great works through 

 the civility of the commander of the place. Captain lacinth 

 St. George, who lives here in a princely style, and possesses a very 

 considerable property, which he diffiises with great public spirit and 

 liberalit_^ All who have visited Armasao can bear witness to his 

 affability and urbanity to strangers. 



We crossed this peninsula by a mountainous road of four leagues 

 to the Bay of Dos Ganchos, commonly known by the name of 

 Tejucos. Here land is of little or no value ; any one may take as 

 much as he pleases of what is unappropriated, provided he make 

 a proper application for it to the government. We passed two sugar 

 plantations with conveniencies for making rum ; and observed nume- 

 rous huts interspersed in the vicinity. The contrary side of this penin- 

 sula forms the bay before named. The poor cottages of the people 

 here present a curious picture of rural irregularity; some are built on 



* Captain Major. 



