BAY OF SOFALA. 
15 
sea was breaking, wliicli compelled us to tack in again ; but the 
wind and tide being both contrary we made so little progress, that 
we thought it beat to take our sail in at once, and pull directly 
into the bay. We had no chart nor directions to guide us to the 
situation of Sofala ; but as we thought we could distinguish 
buildings on an elevated ground lying about nine miles S. W. 
by W. from us, and as a volume of smoke was rising beliind it, 
we steered in that direction. Advancing slowly into the bay 
we shoaled our water gradually from five fathoms to three, to 
two, and one fathom, and at last to three feet. This was at the 
bottom of the bay, which we had reached after four hours hard 
rowing. Our disappointment then became very great on finding 
ourselves as far from our object as ever, not being able to dis- 
cover the slightest trace of town, fort, nor inhabitants. 
We nevertheless entered the mouth of a wide river, which soon 
branched ofi^ into so many divisions, and had so wild an appear- 
ance, as to render it imprudent to advance. The shores were all 
fiat and covered with a thick jungle close down to the water' s-edge, 
and the difierent points, or islands, formed by the intersecting 
streams were so much alike and so extremely intricate, that 
once entangled among them, it would have been scarcely possible 
for us to have found the way out. As we returned, we saw on 
the left bank two canoes hauled up on shore ; on approaching 
them, one of the natives, quite naked, if I may except a thick 
coat of mud, started from the beach with a spear in his hand, and 
running away in great alarm soon hid himself among the trees. 
The spot where he disappeared bore some resemblance to an 
Indian village ; large trees (of the genus ficus), like the banian- 
