SS4 JOURNAL or A 
<wliich to-day increased, M'ith some swelling. I submitted it to the 
surgeon's inspection, who pronounced it to be of not much conse- 
quence, and gave me a lotion, which I believe Avas of service, 
'though the pain haunted me for some time. The clouds seemed 
to announce a change of weather, and the wind freshened ; for 
which we were thankful. Some showers passed over us in the 
afternoon. 
6th. At breakfast, the master announced land from the mast- 
head, and in about an hour after, we could discern it from on deck. 
Running with a fine breeze, at the rate of eiglit knots an hour, we 
hoped to cast anchor at the island of Ascension, early in the after- 
fioon. 
Most of the officers on board saw this island for the first time. 
We expected to see a low, flat, uninteresting country, noted 
•merely as a resort for turtles ; and were therefore agreeably disap- 
pointed, when, at a distance of forty miles, Ave beheld an outhne, 
much more varied and picturesque than that of St. Helena, and the 
volcanic origin mure perceptible. Sailing along the coast from the 
south-east, the whole island appeared dreary in the extreme. The 
sandy beach was as white as snow, with black, rugged rocks inter- 
spersed. Behind it, a horrid waste, with black gullies between 
the hillocks. The latter differed in height, and seemed chiefly 
heaps of scoria?, of a conical form, one set up above the other, and 
enclosing higher hills of a dark-brown colour. A high mountain 
rising in the centre of the island, showed three peaks. A black 
cloud rested upon it for some time, and is said generally to obscure 
the summit, but we were favoured Avitli so clear a sky, that the 
cloud, though hovering above, seldom descended upon it. 
One headland after the other presented itself, as we ran down ; 
and no vessel being seen for some time, the Captain began to en- 
tertain doubts, respecting the situation of the anchoring ground, as 
pointed out in Hosburgti's Directory. At length, the masts of the 
Racoon sloop of Avar Avere discovered rising behind a promontory, 
but more to the Avestward than expected. Various signals Avere 
