1^0 A DIARY OF THE 



Captain Fitzroy, to whom we owe a debt of 

 great gratitude for his zealous exertions in our 

 behalf, had arrived at Concep9ion in his Ma- 

 jesty's ship Blonde, Commodore Mason, C. B., 

 and had volunteered to come overland, and take 

 back to the commodore a report of our situa- 

 tion. The state of weather, and season of the 

 year, had rendered his journey difficult and 

 perilous, from the unusually flooded state of 

 several rivers which he had to pass on his route. 

 He had experienced many falls, from the diffi- 

 culty of preserving the path through the woods 

 in the dark, during the latter part of his journey. 



We now heard that the Commodore had ar- 

 rived at Concep9ion on the 20th, from Valpa- 

 raiso, where our disaster had only been known 

 on the 17th, a month after the event : that 

 he had hired, to despatch to our relief, an Ame- 

 rican schooner (the Carmen) from Concep9ion, 

 and that we might expect to see her off the 

 Leubu in the course of a few days. We did 

 our best to find supper, a sleeping place, and 

 dry clothes, for Captain Fitzroy and his com- 

 panions. It is not to be sufficiently expressed 

 how much joy and cheerfulness was at once dif- 

 fused throughout the camp. 



