377 



down the stream, they struggled along in an ob- 

 lique direction, which gradually (though but 

 slowly) brought us nearer to the opposite shore; 

 and after several minutes passed in most painful 

 anxiety, a desperate plunge out of the water en- 

 abled them to jump the carriage upon terra firma 

 on the same side with my guide, although at a 

 considerable distance from the spot where he had 

 landed. The Yallack's River was less dangerous ; 

 but even this too had been sufficiently swelled to 

 make the crossing it no easy matter ; so that what 

 with one obstacle and another, when I reached 

 Kingston at six o'clock with my bones and my ve- 

 hicle unbroken, I was almost as much surprised as 

 satisfied. I dined with the curate of Kingston (Rev. 

 G. Hill), where I met the admiral upon this sta- 

 tion, Sir Home Popham, and a large party. At 

 Kingston I was obliged to send back a horse, 

 which had been lent me in aid of my own ; another 

 had been dropped at " the Retreat a third could 

 get no farther than the mountains ; and my com- 

 panion's three horses had found themselves unable 

 even to reach Spanish Town, and I had thus been 

 obliged to leave them and theirs behind upon the 

 road. On the morning of our departure from 

 Cornwall, when my Italian servant saw the quan- 

 tity of horses, mules, servants, and carriages col- 

 lected for the journey, he clapped his hands 

 together in exultation, and exclaimed, — " They will 

 certainly take us for the king of England ! " But 



