‘ BLACK will/ chief OF BASSA. 93 
bar of the Grand Bassa, or St. John’s River, a risk not 
to be incurred on any account, though the master of a 
schooner offered to pilot the vessel, as he said there was 
sufficient water. The health of the crew would also 
have been too much endangered : — yet wood we must 
have. Therefore, after having examined some rocks 
near a point, the vessel was taken into Bassa Cove, 
which, considering the nature of the coast, was tolerably 
convenient for wooding. 
Although there was a very heavy swell all along the 
coast, it could not prevent the adventurous and expert 
Fishmen from rowing out to “ makee trade /’ among the 
foremost was ‘ Black Will,’ the burly, rough-toned chief 
of Bassa ; he came off full of promises as to fuel ; nor, 
indeed, did he deceive us, since, in two days, a tolerable 
quantity was forthcoming, but at a very dear rate in 
cotton-cloths, on receiving which they ceased working, 
so a party of our coloured men were sent on shore to 
cut the wood ; ‘ Black Will’ pretending that his people 
had not axes, or, in other words, did not like the work. 
His sable majesty is a stout specimen of his class, very 
vociferous, and yet plain spoken ; his capacity for rum 
is enormous, and he admitted when he came on board, 
that he “drink plenty too much, each night make 
head sing.” On the following day, we landed with 
much difficulty; the surf was very heavy, and nearly 
swamped our whale-boats in approaching the beach. 
How the natives contrive to manage their little narrow 
round-bottomed canoes is a wonder — no English- 
