Cape Coast Castle 
acter of being bad “rollers.” We all took our 
seats, relying on the skill of our crew, who sat on 
the gunwale, six on each side of the boat, brand- 
ishing paddles, the heads of which are heart- 
shaped. A voluble steersman directed when to 
paddle and when to stop. 
We, in the boat, could plainly see that the 
breakers near the shore were big enough, but 
from the place where our ship lay anchored, 
about a mile from land, they resembled but a 
slightly moving swell. 
We started—the boys keeping time with their 
paddles to perfection. As we proceeded the boat 
appeared to stand more or less on end. Now we 
were deep down in the trough of a big hollow, 
next we were being hurled along on the hissing 
crest of a huge green wave; and there before us 
were the mighty rollers, breaking into foam upon 
the beach. A shout from the steersman, who 
had hastily glanced behind him, and the boat 
stopped dead, then seemed to slide back, as 
though by machinery, into the trough of a wave 
just passed, from whose depths we were lifted 
to the top of a mightier sea than ever, as though 
we were a bottle cork. This happened four or 
five times, the boat being, during all this time, 
head on to the sea. At length, at a given shout 
from the Krooboy in command, the crew, with 
hoarse yells and cries, dug out with their paddles 
as though possessed, and we travelled on the 
D 33 
