likely to do us credit, and the position of a British Resident with
him would be the reverse of a pleasant one. However, we must hope
that he is not as black as he is painted. He has evidently put the
other chiefs' backs up, and we must receive their reports of him
with some doubt. However, I have no doubt that, if he turns out
badly, we shall be able to give him a lesson that will be of benefit
to him."

The first day's voyage up the river by no means came up to the
anticipations of the midshipmen as to the country through which
they were to pass. The width of the river varied from a quarter of
a mile to three hundred yards; the banks on each side were lined
with mangroves, presenting a dreary and monotonous aspect. Progress
was slow, the steam launch going ahead and sounding the depth of
water, the captain having but little faith in the assertion of the
native pilot that he was perfectly acquainted with every bank and
shallow. Being now the dry season, the tops of many of these shoals
were dry, and numbers of alligators were lying half in and half
out of the water, basking in the sun.

Several of the officers who possessed rifles amused themselves
by shooting at these creatures, but it was very rarely that any
attention was paid to their firing, the balls glancing off the scaly
armor without the alligators appearing to be conscious of anything
unusual. There was more amusement in watching how, when the swell
of the steamer rushed through the shallow water and broke on the
shoals, the reptiles turned and scrambled back into the river,
evidently alarmed at this, to them, strange phenomenon.

"I should not care about bathing here, Davis," Harry Parkhurst