to which I had had recourse. The blacks no sooner observed that we had
landed, than curiosity took place of anger. All wrangling ceased, and they
came swimming over to us like a parcel of seals. Thus, in less than a
quarter of an hour from the moment when it appeared that all human
intervention was at on end, and we were on the point of commencing a
bloody fray, which, independently of its own disastrous consequences,
would have blasted the success of the expedition, we were peacefully
surrounded by the hundreds who had so lately threatened us with
destruction; nor was it until after we had returned to the boat, and had
surveyed the multitude upon the sloping bank above us, that we became
fully aware of the extent of our danger, and of the almost miraculous
intervention of Providence in our favour. There could not have been less
than six hundred natives upon that blackened sward. But this was not the
only occasion upon which the merciful superintendance of that Providence
to which we had humbly committed ourselves, was strikingly manifested.
If these pages fail to convey entertainment or information, sufficient may
at least be gleaned from them to furnish matter for serious reflection;
but to those who have been placed in situations of danger where human
ingenuity availed them not, and where human foresight was baffled, I feel
persuaded that these remarks are unnecessary.

NEW RIVER, SUPPOSED TO BE THE DARLING.

It was my first care to call for our friend, and to express to him, as
well as I could, how much we stood indebted to him, at the same time that
I made him a suitable present; but to the chiefs of the tribes,
I positively refused all gifts, notwithstanding their earnest
solicitations. We next prepared to examine the new river, and turning the
boat's head towards it, endeavoured to pull up the stream. Our larboard
oars touched the right bank, and the current was too strong for us to