62 DEPLORABLE STATE OF A BRIG. 



him to remain on board. I had been up all 

 night, attending on poor Harries ; but the duty- 

 being urgent, I departed in the gig, with four 

 Kroomen and a leadsman, for the mouth of the 

 river. We found that the reefs extended out 

 two miles from the main land, and that there 

 were two fathoms on the bar at low water. We 

 proceeded some miles up the river, and found the 

 brig Susan, of Liverpool, loaded with palm-oil, 

 and waiting for assistance to enable her to quit 

 the river. She had been lying there seven months, 

 the last four of which she had been ready for sea, 

 but was unable to get out from want of hands, 

 having lost seven men out of twelve. The vessel 

 was in a most deplorable condition, and to all ap- 

 pearance not seaworthy ; and the miserable rem- 

 nant of the crew were more like spectres than 

 men. Her commander informed me that he had 

 purchased Mr. Lander's journal from King Boy, 

 and had paid two hundred pounds for it ; but from 

 the fellow's looks I much doubted his assertion. 



By two in the afternoon I returned to the 

 Quorra, having suiFered much from the intense 

 heat of the sun, to which I had been exposed for 

 above eight hours. My black friend the pilot, 

 I found, had been excessively uneasy during my 



