i 2 6 The Diftrejfes and Adventures 

 Year, which is the Time of the Rains. His 

 Anfwer was, that he had Inftru&ions from 

 the King of Sfhml not t0 fuffer an y Englifh- 

 man to pais up or down the Lake, and that 

 therefore, he neither could nor would com- 

 ply with our Requeft. This flat Denial ut- 

 terly difmay'd us ; yet, what is very natural 

 to Perfcns driven even to Defpair itfelf, that 

 is, to hover about the Thing on which they 

 have once built their Hopes, was now our 

 Cafe. We could not forbear hankering 

 about the Lake of Nicaragua, thinking how 

 eafily we might have attained our Ends 

 that Way, could we have obtained a Pafs. 



As we were walking up and down in 

 this penfive Mood, we chanced to meet with 

 a Company of Indians, among whom was 

 a Countryman of our own, who appeared 

 to be almoft ftarved to Death. We asked 

 him, how long he had been in this Country ? 

 he faid almoft five Years, and that he had 

 travelled about from Place to Place in Hopes 

 of getting out of it, but was never the 

 nearer to his Journey's End. He told us his 

 Name was Robert Barnwell, and that he 

 was born at fVefl-GheJler. It feems, he had 



been 



