s not produce nearly what it might be made to do,
while the people remain in a poor and backward condition. Before sunset
the same day we saw the island of Ferro, the most western of the group.
Before the discovery of America, this was looked on as the extreme
western limits of the habitable world, and till very lately some
navigators calculated their first meridian from thence. There are
thirteen islands in the group, which produce corn, silk, tobacco, sugar,
and the wine which was so long known under their name. We caught about
here the regular north-east trade-wind; away we went before it as
steadily and majestically as a swan glides over his native lake. I hope
every reader of my adventures will look at the map, and see whereabouts
the places I mention are situated, or they will find some difficulty in
clearly comprehending my descriptions.

We had, I thought, been a long time at sea without meeting with anything
very amusing.

"I say, Jerry, when are we to fall in with all the wonderful adventures
you told me of?" I asked one day, as we were walking the deck together.

"You would meet with plenty of wonders if you would but keep your eyes
open to see them," observed Cousin Silas, who overheard my observation.
The reply, however, did not quite satisfy me; nothing like a gale or bad
weather had occurred, and I began to suspect that we had already had a
sample of the sort of life we were always to undergo at sea.

"Hillo!" exclaimed Jerry soon after this, "what has come over the air, I
wonder? Why, we have got into a regular red fog. What has caused it,
Mr Brand; can you tell me?"

"No, indeed, I cannot," answered Silas. "I've met with it more than
once. It is a very curious phenomenon."

"They do say it comes off from the coast of Africa," remarked Ben Yool,
who was at the wheel, and from his age privileged to speak on such a
matter. "It's full of red sand, and I've seen it covering the decks in
some parts as if a man had been scraping a red holystone over them."

We were still discussing the subject, when Captain Frankland came on
deck. He listened for some time to what we were saying.

"I am glad to hear you discuss the subject, my lads," he remarked in a
kind voice. "Though you are wrong in your conjectures, if you will
attend, I will try and explain what I know about the matter. It is a
very important one, for by means of this dust--for dust it is--which
fills the air, philosophers have been