THE AUTHOR LOSES HIS ASS. 
327 
and his loss gave me sincere concern : I lost him too at the 
moment when he might have enjoyed some repose, and re- 
cruited his strength ; and I was thus deprived of every 
resoui'ce for reaching the banks of the Senegal by land. 
Wliilst I was censuring myself for having left the ship so 
abruptly, without waiting for the landing of the constant 
companion of my travels, Boukari came to inform me, that 
one of the slaves who was brought in the same vessel with us, 
had seized a musket accidentally left near him, had fired it, 
and made such a hole in the side of the vessel, that she had 
nearly sunk ; they had no other means of saving her than by 
immediately stopping the hole with grease. Consequently, 
if I had disembarked a little later, instead of saving my ass, 
I might, perhaps, have been drowned myself. 
I was still in bed, when a Negro brought me a bundle of 
new clothes, and an invitation from the governor to dine with 
him ; but I was too ill to accept it, and I desired him to beg 
M. de Mattos to have the goodness to excuse me. An hour 
afterwards a superb tray was brought me containing six ex- 
quisite dishes, but my fever prevented me from tasting a 
morsel. M. de Mattos continued to treat me with the same 
liberality during the whole of my stay at Bissao. This 
governor is about thirty years of age ; he is of a commanding 
stature, with a noble and dignified look, indicative of high 
birth ; the generosity with which he receives strangers is as 
unlimited as his fortune, which is immense. 
