APPENDIX III. 



483 



surrounded us. We determined to detain the pilots till the 

 ships were out of danger. 



Xext day, the 10th, the boat returned with Mallum 

 Ali, though the promise given to the Sooltan was com- 

 pulsory, and did not, strictly speaking, deserve the least 

 regard ; yet out of respect to the word and honour of an 

 Englishman, as well as for the sake of any of our country- 

 men who might hereafter fall into their hands, and on 

 whom they might be tempted to retaliate their disappoint- 

 ment, it was resolved to adhere to our extortod eno^ao^e- 

 ments as far as consistent with the safety of the ships. 

 Therefore five muskets, two pistols, two barrels of gun- 

 powder, two bundles of musket-ball cartridges, and 160 

 flints, being all we could spare, were delivered, with 

 which they departed very well satisfied, and thus termin- 

 ated this troublesome business. 



From the 10th to the 12th we were occupied in getting 

 through the S.TV. channel, which proved a very tedious 

 job. The pilots were either too ignorant or too unwilling 

 to be of much service, and it became necessary to keep 

 our boats out sounding in order to discover the passage, 

 and direct the ships how to steer : we found it very 

 narrow, and interrupted in two places by bars, on which 

 at high water we found not more than one quarter less 

 three fathoms. From the anchorage the channel ran 

 W.S.W. J W., about half a mile, and then turned to the 

 southward. In leading out on the 1 1th the Sylph grounded, 

 but soon got oflT again ; on the evening of the 1 2th, 

 having got clear of the sands and rocks, dismissed the 

 pilots, and stood out to sea during the night. Since an- 

 choring at Patta the weather (with the exception of the 

 morning of the 8th, when a few drops of rain fell) was 



