PROCEED UP THE RIVER. 301 



lay longer than was requisite for putting the 

 corpse into the earth, that we had no time to 

 read the burial service. 



On the next day we got steam up, and pro- 

 ceeded a short distance, when we again grounded 

 in four feet of water, in a place which we named 

 Shallow Hole. 



At 9 A. M. on the 19th, got steam up, and un- 

 der weigh from Shallow Hole. Passed Carpen- 

 ter's Point. About 11 a. m. the stock of fuel be- 

 ing consumed, we anchored abreast of a good 

 wooding place, and sent the men on shore to cut 

 firewood. When the men returned, I found 

 they had been much alarmed ; for four Eyeyan 

 natives had suddenly come upon them, present- 

 ing their arrows and demanding why they were 

 cutting wood. After the Kroomen had left, 

 these four natives appeared on the sandbank. 



At 3 p. M. we again got under weigh, steering 

 north :— soundings, from one up to five and six 

 fathoms ; in some places only five feet. The great 

 object in navigating the river is to find the re- 

 gular channel, which it is very difficult to do, 

 on account of the continual shifting of the sand- 

 banks. In the proper channel, where I found 

 six fathoms, it is not more than sixty or eighty 



