38 
LETTERS FROM 
apprehensions that she has foundered, for 
it is not at all probable that she would 
pass the Straits without putting into some 
port to repair. From the short and imper¬ 
fect view we had of her, she appeared to be 
a vessel of about two hundred tons, and from 
her jib-boom and other parts left on our 
deck, she is supposed to be a foreigner. As 
far as I am able to judge, the accident was 
occasioned solely by the negligence of her 
people in not carrying a light, and in not 
keeping a look out, for we always had a large 
lantern on each paddle-box. But the 
opinion of a landsman is not of much 
value in these cases. 
We have been detained here a shorter 
time than we had expected, for seven or 
eight ship carpenters were immediately sent 
on board, and have been hard at work day 
and night. The part of the vessel under re- 
