THE BIMBIA PILOT. 283 



sion. Instead of proceeding to Bonny, they 

 were forwarded at the king's expense by the 

 transport to Ascension. I must confess that 

 my romance never had such a fall as when I saw 

 these pirates ; I expecting a fine-looking, dash- 

 ing, daring set of men ; — instead of which, they 

 were a parcel of the most mean-looking scoun- 

 drels I had ever seen, and my sympathy for those 

 they had plundered gave way to surprise at 

 their having made no resistance to such a set of 

 scarecrows. They reported that they had thrown 

 away a considerable number of dollars at Bimbia, 

 at their landing, to prevent suspicion in case 

 they had been found upon them, — and to recover 

 these dollars was one object of our visit. 



We sailed at midnight, and in three hours 

 came to anchor off Bimbia. At daylight we ran 

 inside the island of that name, and came to an- 

 chor between it and the main land. We landed 

 after breakfast, and were received by Prince 

 William of Bimbia, who was rigged out for the 

 occasion in scarlet trousers, fustian shooting- 

 jacket, and a gold-laced hat. He described the 

 landing of the pirates, the swamping of their 

 boat, and paid into Colonel Nicolls's hands the 

 dollars that had been fished up by his people. 



