178 DEPART FOR ATTAII. 



a small portable magazine well stored with ball 

 cartridge, and each man was armed with a musket. 



After leaving written instructions with the 

 chief officer, I took my departure from the ship 

 at 7 A. M. committing myself to the care of the 

 Omnipotent Being, who had so often shielded 

 me from dangers. 



About an hour after leaving the vessel, a canoe 

 paddled close by us, containing thirty females ; 

 and two or three more came out of a creek, and 

 shot past us with great rapidity ; both parties 

 gazing at each other with some anxiety. Several 

 of Obie's canoes were within three hundred yards 

 of us. The canoes which we had seen amounted 

 to about three hundred, going up to Kirree 

 market ; and the river had the appearance of a 

 regatta, almost every canoe having a piece of 

 white cotton flying, on which were painted 

 various devices, as skulls, crocodiles, trees, &c. 



In the course of the morning, an Eboe canoe 

 with an old acquaintance came alongside, who 

 perceiving my men fatigued, willingly lent me 

 four additional hands. Kirree market is held 

 on a sandbank, which increases in size according 

 to the decrease of the river : it was now about 

 five miles in length. The canoes had been halted 



