253 
THE WESTERN COAST. 
been deprived of an active and intelligent friend, 
whose benevolence and generosity were only 
equalled by his capacity and perseverance, the for- 
mation of the settlement was committed to Cap- 
tain Thompson of the Nautilus, by whom a district 
of land, about twenty miles square, for the esta- 
blishment, was purchased from king Naimbanna, 
and the chiefs his vassals. The site of a town was 
immediately chosen, on a rising ground fronting 
the sea, a store-house was founded, and land dis- 
tributed, by lot, to the colonists. But the imme- 
diate prospect of labour, instead of producing that 
harmonious exertion which their situation requir- 
ed, only excited turbulence and licentiousness ; 
indolence and depravity so generally prevailed, 
that hardly a man could be induced to labour 
steadily in erecting the hut by which he was to 
be sheltered, or in unloading the provisions by 
which he was to be supported. Their constitutions 
had been originally weakened by disease, which, 
during their passage, had been aggravated by in- 
temperance, debauchery, and confinement ; the 
rainy season commenced before they could be pre- 
vailed on to form huts for their shelter, and such a 
dreadful mortality ensued, that, at the departure 
of Captain Thompson, on September 16th, the co- 
lony was reduced by death and desertion to Tjfd 
persons. As the excesses of the most incorrigible 
had accelerated their dissolution, the survivors, per- 
