Chap. VI. LOSS OF MAIL-BAGS. 135 



afloat. Heavy rains fell daily, producing the usual injurious 

 effects in the cabin ; and unable to wait any longer for our 

 associates, who had gone overland from the Shire to Tette, 

 we ran down to the Kongone and beached her for repairs. 

 Her Majesty's ship Lynx, Lieut. Berkeley commanding, 

 called shortly afterwards with supplies ; the bar, which 

 had been perfectly smooth for some time before, became 

 rather rough just before her arrival, so that it was two or 

 three days before she could communicate with us. Two of her 

 boats tried to come in on the second day, and one of them, 

 mistaking the passage, capsized in the heavy breakers abreast 

 of the island. Mr. Hunt, gunner, the officer in charge of the 

 second boat, behaved nobly, and by his skilful and gallant 

 conduct succeeded in rescuing every one of the first boat's 

 crew. Of course the things that they were bringing to us 

 were lost, but we were thankful that all the men were saved. 

 The loss of the mail-bags, containing Government despatches 

 and our friends' letters for the past year, was felt severely, 

 as we were on the point of starting on an expedition into 

 the interior, which might require eight or nine months; 

 and twenty months is a weary time to be without news of 

 friends and family. In the repairing of our crazy craft, we 

 received kind and efficient aid from Lieutenant Berkeley, 

 and we were enabled to leave for Tette on December 16th. 



On our way up, we met the Governor of Quilliniane 

 coming down in a boat. He said that he was ordered by 

 the Lisbon Government to select, after personal investiga- 

 tion, the best port for ships to enter, and the best landing- 

 place for goods. We gave him directions how to find 

 Kongone. He added that he was confident that the Portu- 

 guese of his own district knew of a mouth from which they 

 exported slaves, but they would not tell him where it was, 



