Shore--Bonny Bath--Interview with King Peppel--Ceremony of
opening the Trade--Rashness of a Slave Dealer--Horrible Fanaticism--
Schooner at Sea--Return to Fernando Po


_Wednesday, January 23, 1828_.--Fortunately the wind was light, for had
it blown hard, the result might have been fatal to the vessel. At seven
in the morning, we found the vessel afloat, and attempted, with a small
anchor and cable, assisted by the sails, to get her over the mud: but,
at eleven o'clock, we were again stuck fast. In the afternoon, we sent a
letter by a Krooman, in a small canoe, to Captain Cumings, of the brig
Kent, lying off the town of Old Calabar, commonly called Duke's Town, as
the king of that country is generally known by the name and title of
Duke Ephraim. In about a couple of hours, the Krooman returned, in
consequence of having met with a very large canoe coming down on her
passage to the Camaroon river, to purchase slaves. He induced the
Captain to come on board, but the appearance of a schooner, with so
large a boat and so many hands, evidently created some suspicion in his
mind. He was too much a man of the world, however, not to affect a
confidence, which we were all persuaded he did not feel:--he drank some
rum, and carried himself with consummate self-possession; gave us all
the Calabar news he could recollect, and demanded our latest
intelligence in return. When the conversation was exhausted, and a good
opportunity occurred for taking leave, he departed; heartily rejoiced,
no doubt, at escaping with so much tact. His canoe was about fifty feet
long, with a small thatched house built on a platform in the centre. The
paddles were worked by boys, under the direction of two men, who gave
out a song when pulling. There were two poor creatures, whom we supposed
to be slaves, confined in irons, at one end of the boat.