DISCOURAGING CIRCUMSTANCES. 143 



and six grains of calomel, and resigned myself to 

 my fate. 



In the interval between the foregoing and the 

 7th of January, Dr. Briggs and I experienced 

 another severe attack of fever, and it was not 

 until this date that I could resume my journal. 

 We were both like scarecrows, with our long 

 beards and razor faces. On this day, however, 

 I w^as much better, and Dr. Briggs was convales- 

 cent. The vessel still lay aground. Such deten- 

 tion and delay, and no trade withal, was very 

 distressing. We had now been upwards of two 

 months in the river, and had not obtained half a 

 ton of ivory. However, we had not yet reached 

 the places where Mr. Lander saw it in such pro- 

 fusion ; but after all, when we were asked at the 

 rate of one shilling per pound for it, I was very 

 doubtful of its cheapness. The indigo was four- 

 fifths of it dirt, and would not pay freight home. 



On the 8th, I felt nearly well. The vessel 

 could not be got off. The men had been heaving 

 on the kedges in vain, and I began to think that 

 if she were afloat, I should be rather at a loss 

 what to do with her ; for I doubted whether we 

 could remove her from the hole which she had 

 made for herself, surrounded as she was by banks 



