324 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



crew, I took Tom Dick with me as a guide, and 

 went ashore with Governor Freeman and the agent 

 for a Liverpool house which had a branch esta- 

 blishment at Bonny. 



The surf was no great obstacle to our landing, 

 but afterwards our boat nearly capsized in crossing 

 the bar of a small river which we explored for a 

 short distance. I was much struck with the fertile 

 appearance of the country, which was tolerably 

 free from swamp, and here and there covered with 

 patches of cultivation. We put up at " the hotel," 

 a tolerably comfortable wooden house, the pro- 

 prietor of which, " a coloured pusson," appears to 

 be a "jack of all trades," for he not only keeps a 

 house of entertainment (rumour calls it something 

 else), but he is also a Senator of the Negro Repub- 

 lic, a lecturer on teetotalism, and a general agent, 

 not very particular as to his ware. His wife — a 

 Avell-known personage in the Bonny river, and a 

 cute-looking party, with a skin the colour of a ripe 

 guava — is also up to a thing or two. 



We visited the American Mission House, where 

 we made the acquaintance of the Rev. C. E. Hoff- 



