302 DIFFICULTIES OF NAVIGATION. 



yards wide. I consider this as one of the best 

 periods for discovering the situation of the deep 

 water. 



At 5 p. M. came to an anchor. This evening 

 some fishermen brought us a very fine turtle 

 weighing sixty-one pounds. It was purchased for 

 three knives, value twopence half-penny each, 

 and ten flints, and was to us a most desirable 

 acquisition. 



The next morning, the Kroomen engaged in 

 cutting wood. Johnson somewhat better. At 

 1. 5 p. M. we got under weigh. Water very 

 shallow for two miles ; only four and a half or five 

 feet could be found on sounding. We grounded 

 twice, but got off in a few minutes. The depth 

 of water which the vessel now draws, in conse- 

 quence of the removal of the heavy goods into 

 the long-boat, was four feet and a quarter. Ob- 

 serving something floating on the surface of the 

 stream, it proved to be the corpse of a woman.* 



At 6. 30 p. M. came to an anchor. At 7 p. m. 



* I was afterwards informed, that the corpse I met float- 

 ing on the water was that of a poor woman who had been 

 thrown into the river a few days previous as a sacrifice to 

 the river-god, by order of the cruel King of Iddah. Only a 

 few days ago, a corpse drifted athwart our hawse while at 

 anchor. 



