332 THE FOREST AND THE FIELD. 



We dined and passed the evening at Mr. Mac- 

 Intyr's, the agent of Messrs. Foster and Smith — a 

 London firm that does a large business on the 

 Gold Coast — and here I met several good fellows. 

 Besides our host, whose hospitality and kindness 

 were unlimited, I made the acquaintance of some 

 bright, genial spirits : Bob Hutchinson (who, un- 

 fortunately for his friends, soon afterwards suc- 

 cumbed to dysentery, contracted in the Kroboe 

 expedition), Hoare, Edwards, and Captain Wood 

 (the Beceiver-General) ; whilst O'Callaghan -and 

 Eoss, with several other officers of the garrison, 

 and many of our passengers, joined our party 

 later in the evening, and we had a merry night 

 of it notwithstanding the heat, which was intense. 

 The climate in this place is deadly to horses, none 

 ever living more than a few months, which is 

 a great disadvantage to the residents, who are 

 obliged to travel about in hammocks. The next 

 morning, soon after daybreak, I went round the 

 place with Edwards, and was surprised at the 

 vastness of some of the houses built by the mer- 

 chant princes of days bygone. " Gothic Hall," 



