MOUTHS OF THE NIGER, 367 



became very wearisome ; so I was not sorry that 

 the voyage was nearly over. 



On the 24th January, at 7.30 a.m., we anchored 

 off Benin for a few hours, to deliver the mail-bags 

 and take in a few casks of palm-oil ; and the next 

 morning, at 9.30, we were off the Nun, the prin- 

 cipal embouchure of the Niger. Finding no boats 

 made their appearance outside the bar, after wait- 

 ing an hour and firing guns, we continued our way 

 to Brass, a few miles further on, where we deli- 

 vered the mail-bags, and again got under weigh. 

 At 5 p.m., on the 25th January, we anchored in 

 the river off the town of Bonny, amongst a number 

 of hulks and sailing-vessels that were engaged in 

 the palm-oil trade. 



The whole line of coast between Lagos and 

 Bonny may be described as a gigantic fetid swamp, 

 reeking with malaria and pestilence. As we went 

 along, breaks in the mangrove and mud-banks 

 disclosed to us numberless rivers — said to be the 

 mouths of the Niger — which are more or less con- 

 nected with each other by creeks and lagoons that 

 intersect the country in every direction. It is the 



