all eyes, that there was land stretching along our weather beam.
We immediately took in studding-sails and hauled our wind, running in
for the land. This was done to determine our longitude; for by the
captain's chronometer we were in 25º W., but by his observations we
were much farther, and he had been for some time in doubt whether
it was his chronometer or his sextant which was out of order.
This land-fall settled the matter, and the former instrument was
condemned, and becoming still worse, was never afterwards used.

As we ran in towards the coast, we found that we were directly off
the port of Pernambuco, and could see with the telescope the roofs
of the houses, and one large church, and the town of Olinda. We ran
along by the mouth of the harbor, and saw a full-rigged brig going in.
At two, P.M., we again kept off before the wind, leaving the land on
our quarter, and at sun-down, it was out of sight. It was here that
I first saw one of those singular things called catamarans. They are
composed of logs lashed together upon the water; have one large sail,
are quite fast, and, strange as it may seem, are trusted as good
sea boats. We saw several, with from one to three men in each,
boldly putting out to sea, after it had become almost dark.
The Indians go out in them after fish, and as the weather is
regular in certain seasons, they have no fear. After taking a
new departure from Olinda, we kept off on our way to Cape Horn.

We met with nothing remarkable until we were in the latitude of the
river La Plata. Here there are violent gales from the south-west,
called Pomperos, which are very destructive to the shipping in the
river, and are felt for many leagues at sea. They are usually
preceded by lightning. The captain told the mates to keep a bright
look-out, and if they saw lightning at the south-west, to take in