\ 



in the Pacific Ocean. 7 



thing they bad purchased in town, to the amount of six or seven 

 hundred dollars, hut were so fortunate as to find next day, 

 among the rocks of the island, every article that would float. 



The beef was spoiled before it came on board. We were 

 obliged to throw it overboard ; and shortly afterwards an enor- 

 mous shark, at least twenty-five feet in length, rose along side, 

 with a quarter of a bullock in his mouth. It would have been 

 impossible to describe the horror that this voracious animal ex- 

 cited. Several of our seamen, and most of the officers, had been 

 swimming along side the evening previous. A man would scarcely 

 have been a mouthful for him. When he first made his appear- 

 ance, every one was impressed with a belief that it was a young 

 whale. 



I waited on the commander of the fort the day after I an- 

 chored. He was a very old man : his name was don Alexandre 

 Jose de Azedido. He received me with great civility, and, as 

 has been generally the case with the Portuguese, expressed a 

 great desire that our cruise might be successful. 1 he fort has 

 been erected about seventy years ; there are mounted on it fifteen 

 or twenty honey-combed guns of different -calibres. Vegetation 

 has been so rapid, that the walls of the fortress are nearly hid by 

 the trees that have shot up in every part. The gun-carriages 

 are in a very rotten state, and the garrison consists of about 

 twenty half-naked soldiers. 



There is a church within the fortress ; here,' as a substitute 

 for a bell, is suspended at the door, part of a broken crow-bar ; 

 and at the entrance of the commandant's apartments, is the 

 stocks, (for the punishment of the soldiers,) which, from their 

 greasy, polished appearance, I have reason to believe are kept in 

 constant use. There are three forts for the protection of the bay, 

 of which this is the, principal : one on a high point on the island 

 of St. Catharines, and another on the island where our boat 

 landed after upsetting, called Great Hat Island. About one league 

 and a half below the chief fortress, on the starboard hand 

 going into the bay, behind a rocky point, are the houses for the 

 accommodation of those employed in the whale fishery, as well as 

 the stores, boilers, and tanks to contain the oil. The crown has 

 the exclusive privilege of fishing here. About five hundred men 

 are engaged in it. Nearly the same number of whales are taken 

 annually in the bay, where they come to calve, and are then per- 

 fectly helpless. None but small boats are engaged in taking 

 them. The oil is deposited in an immense tank, formed for the 

 purpose in a rock, and is from thence transported to Portugal 

 and elsewhere. 



St. Catharines has been settled by the Portuguese about seventy 

 years. The town, which appears to be in rather a thriving state, 



