AWKWARD ACCIDENT. 
97 
but the rustling in the bush continuing, his anxiety got 
the better of his patience, and bang went his “ Manton.” 
A sort of wild shriek followed, and on rushing to 
pick up what he trusted was a new species of monkey, 
he found a black boy, wounded in some places by the 
shot, but more frightened than hurt. The little fellow 
scrambled olf in quick style, not wishing to try any 
longer the process of “ hopping the twig” near a 
zealous Zoologist. ‘ Black Will’ made some palaver 
about it, but a douceur — a piece of handkerchiefs and 
an axe — served to sooth the irritation of the young 
sufferer’s wounds and the ill-feeling of his friends. 
Some of our countrymen came on board from 
a small schooner, trading for palm oil and ivory on 
the coast. Two of them were sickly, and suffering 
much from ague and other sequences of the coast 
fever. They were very grateful for proper medicines 
and kind treatment on their visit ; and we afterwards 
learned that the remedies had been effectual. 
During our stay at Grand Bassa, we had rain every 
day, sometimes lasting with great violence for many 
hours, which made our operations of wooding very 
difficult, and attended with danger to health, though 
the hard work was principally done by the Krumen. 
This unfavourable state of the weather also limited the 
researches of our Botanist, and confined his observations 
to the immediate vicinity of the shore, where, however, 
he found more plants than he was able to preserve in 
such a damp atmosphere. A collection of one hundred 
VOL. I. 
H 
