EARLY ENGLISH DISCOVERIES. 59 



in charge of the Catherine of 120 tons, w]th a cargo worth 

 nearly two thousand pounds sterling. In the month of 

 December he entered the river ; and proceeding as high as 

 Kassan, a fortified town, where he left most of his crew, 

 he pushed on in boats. The Portuguese, who were still 

 numerous in that district, and retained all their lofty claims, 

 were seized with bitter jealousy at this expedition madf* 

 by a foreign and rival power. Led on by Hector Nunez, 

 they furiously attacked the party which had been left at 

 Kassan, and succeeded in making a general massacre of 

 the English. Thompson, on learning these dreadful 

 tidings, although unable to make any eftbrt to avenge the 

 slaughter of his countrymen, still maintained his station on 

 the river, and sent home encouraging accounts of the ge- 

 neral prospects of the undertaking. The company hstened 

 to his statement, and sent out another vessel, which unfor- 

 tunately arrived at an improper season, and lost most of the 

 crew by sickness. Even yet they were not dismayed, but, 

 retaining their ardour unabated, fitted out a third and larger 

 expedition, consisting of the Sion of 200 tons, and the St. 

 John of 50, and gave the command to Richard Jobson, to 

 whom we are indebted for the first satisfactory account of 

 the great river-districts of Western Africa. 



Jobson entered the Gambia in November, 1620 ; but 

 •what was his dismay on receiving the tidings that Thomp- 

 son had perished by the hands of his own men ! Mutiny 

 was then a frequent occurrence on these hard and distant 

 services ; but how it arose in this case, or who was to 

 blame, was never duiy investigated. The crew are said to 

 have been unanimous in representing the conduct of their 

 le9.der as oppressive and intolerable ; but, in regard to a 

 man of uni^oubted spirit and enterprise, and who fell the 

 first of so many victims in the cause of African discovery, 

 we should not receive too readily the report of those who 

 had so deep an interest in painting his character in the 

 darkest colours. 



Jobson, notwithstanding the shock caused by this intelli- 

 gence, did not suffer himself to be discouraged, but pushing 

 briskly up the river, soon arrived at Kassan. The Portu- 

 guese inhabitants in general had fled before his arrival, 

 while the few who remained professed, in respect to Hector 

 Nunez and the massacre of the English crew, an ignorance. 



