SOUTH AMERICA. 251 



closed, and nothing now remained but to convey TII1RD 



- * JOURNEY. 



them to the cart, which was in attendance at the 



door of the dep6t. Just as one of the inferior 

 officers was carrying a box thither, in stepped 

 the man whom I suspected I should see again at 

 Philippi. He abruptly declared himself dissatis- 

 fied with the valuation which the gentlemen of 

 the customs had put upon the collection, and said 

 he must detain it. I remonstrated, but it was all 

 in vain. 



After this pitiful stretch of power, and bad com- 

 pliment to the other officers of the customs, who 

 had been satisfied with the valuation, this man 

 had the folly to take me aside, and after assuring 

 me that he had a great regard for the arts and 

 sciences, he lamented that conscience obliged him 

 to do what he had done, and he wished he had 

 been fifty miles from Liverpool at the time that it 

 fell to his lot to detain the collection. Had he 

 looked in my face as he said this, he would have 

 seen no marks of credulity there. 



I now returned to the Custom-house, and after 

 expressing my opinion of the officer's conduct at 

 the dep6t, I pulled a bunch of keys (which 

 belonged to the detained boxes) out of my pocket, 

 laid them on the table, took my leave of the 

 gentlemen present, and soon after set off for 

 Yorkshire. 



I saved nothing from the grasp of the stranger 

 officer, but a pair of live Malay fowls, which a 



