ANCHOR NEAR IDDAH. 219 



At this season the passage up to Iddah is 

 both intricate and replete with difficulty ; but at 

 5. 15 p. M. we anchored abreast the landing-place 

 leading to Iddah, from which it is distant one 

 mile, — English Island being on the opposite side 

 of the river. We fired a salute of nine guns and 

 gave three hearty huzzas to announce our arri- 

 val. Attah immediately sent us a present of a 

 goat and sixty yams. 



I felt great satisfaction in being at length 

 anchored in our present situation ; though my 

 feelings of pleasure were not unmingled with un- 

 feigned regret on reflecting that in the accom- 

 plishment of my purpose, in one of the most 

 sickly periods of the year, I had lost the chief 

 mate, engineer, boatswain, and two men. At 

 this season, the retreating waters leaving all 

 sorts of animal and vegetable decomposition on 

 the banks, malaria abounds, and the excessive 

 fatigue arising from so much exertion in the 

 heated and tainted atmosphere is most over- 

 powering. Those only can appreciate our suf- 

 ferings who have been similarly situated in a tro- 

 pical climate and under a vertical sun : they only 

 can imagine the difficulties of navigating a river 

 abounding with sandbanks, five months after the 



