FURTHER MORTALITY. 339 



ported from being so weak, I bled him, and be- 

 fore the operation was finished I fainted three 

 times. After the decease of James Fanby, who 

 died in January, this was the first death on board 

 the brig, and it occasioned great despondency 

 throughout the crew. 



In a month after the decease of Fanby, the 

 sail-maker, Mr. Jeffrey, died. He was an old 

 pensioner, had been at the battles of Trafalgar 

 and Copenhagen, and served under Lord Nelson. 

 He was fifty-eight years of age, and had often 

 expressed a wish to live until sixty. 



In the beginning of January, we had long been 

 anxiously expecting the steamers down the river, 

 but could learn no intelligence respecting them- 

 They had now been absent three months, and 

 our situation was every day becoming more pain- 

 ful, being exposed day after day to the same 

 degree of monotony from morning till night. 

 Our provisions were also getting short; the 

 water was exceedingly bad, and quite brackish. 



On the west side of the river, near where we 

 lay, is a barracoon or slave-house, where we 

 found several dozen human skulls lining the bank. 

 I soon discovered that these were the remains of 

 slaves who had died here, this being the place 



z 2 



