CHAPTER XV. 
PAUMOTU GROUP. 
183 9. 
On the 13th July we had finished the necessary outfits and taken 
in our stores. The remainder of the latter were embarked in the 
store-ship Relief, which was ordered to land a part of them at the 
Sandwich Islands, and the rest at Sydney, New South Wales, after 
which to proceed to the United States by the way of Cape Horn. 
We took leave of our kind friends, Edwin Bartlett, Esq., United 
States Charge d'Affaires, and Edward M'Call, Esq., United States 
Consul. To both these gentlemen I am under many obligations for 
their kindness and information in relation to the country and its 
affairs. Their long residence had made them familiar with those 
subjects; and many of the transactions they communicated had hap- 
pened under their own eyes. 
At 5 p. m., having a light breeze, the signal was made to get under 
way, and we were soon standing out of the bay under all canvass. 
Captain M'Keever accompanied us until we reached the point of San 
Lorenzo. On his taking leave, we expressed our thanks for the im- 
portant aid he had rendered us, by giving him several hearty cheers. 
The day after our departure, we fell in with a Peruvian brig from 
San Bias, in want of water, which we supplied. She had fallen to 
leeward of her port, and her people were reduced to much distress for 
want of that necessary article. 
I had felt much anxiety lest the small-pox should make its appear- 
ance among us, and looked forward daily with apprehension to the 
hour when the sick reports were made. On the 14th my worst fears 
were realized, for the Peacock made signal that they had a case of 
that disease on board. It fortunately proved of a mild type, and no 
