APPENDIX. 
441 
can be wanted by the steam-vessels in their progress np the 
river^ or which can be stowed by them j and then directing her 
to proceed to Fernando Po^ in order to deliver all the remaining 
stores to the agent of the West African Company, who has been 
directed to take charge of them for your future use, and who 
on giving her master proper receipts and vouchers, will signify 
to him that his engagement with Government has then termi- 
nated. 
During this period you will also take means to have a satis- 
factory survey made of the bar of the Nun, with the approach- 
ing soundings, the entrance channel, and the adjacent anchorage, 
but under such precautions as may not prematurely expose your 
men and officers to the baneful effects of the climate. 
If the objects of the Expedition should happily be fulfilled 
and should lead to a free intercourse with the interior, this 
survey of the bar will be of great moment in enabling all new- 
coming vessels to run at once into a secure berth. Any further 
survey of the lower part of the river must be deferred to a 
fitter opportunity, as we desire that when once entered, you will 
proceed across the whole breadth of the alluvial and pernicious 
Delta, as far as Eboe, with all the speed compatible with the 
safety of Her Majesty’s vessels, and the comfort of their crews, 
and that you will not allow yourselves to be diverted from that 
object by any minor considerations whatever. Nevertheless as 
by that time the month of June will have commenced, and as 
the river will be at its lowest, all those flats and shoals which 
render its navigation so difficult when the river is full will then 
be above water, and their positions visible. You will therefore 
be prepared with a digested plan for the combined operation of 
all the three vessels under your command, by which the position 
and extent of those fiats and banks may be approximately 
determined, the three tracts of continued soundings carefully 
recorded, and the opposite shores with their projecting points, 
creeks, villages, and general characteristics satisfactorily sketched 
—in short, you will take means for making such a competent 
though running survey of that part of the river as may ensure 
its safe navigation to Her Majesty’s vessels when returning with 
a full or possibly with a falling river, and which will serve as the 
foundation for a subsequent and regular survey. 
