THE ALBURKAH. * 7 



or to form the other. Never were men more 

 ridiculed than the gentlemen of the company 

 when fitting out this vessel for her voyage to 

 Africa. It was gravely asserted that the work- 

 ing in a sea-way would shake the rivets out of 

 the iron of which she was composed : the heat 

 of a tropical sun would bake alive her unhappy 

 crew as if they were in an oven ; and the first 

 tornado she might encounter would hurl its 

 lightnings upon a conductor evidently sent forth 

 to brave its power. But what was the actual 

 result ? In spite of these wise opinions, her 

 rivets are yet firm in their places, as the fact 

 of her not having made a cupful of water 

 sufficiently proves. Being in herself a universal 

 conductor, she was always at the same tempera- 

 ture as the water in which she floated ; and, 

 for the same reason, though the lightning might 

 play round her sides, it never could get on 

 board of her. 



The large boat was named the Quorra, the 

 title given by the natives to a part of the river 

 — or rather, I believe, a general term applied 

 by them to all running waters. The smaller 

 boat was called the Alburkah, a Houssa word 



