had had time, it would have been much better to have erected our
buildings with brick or stone. There is, indeed, plenty of fine clay for
the former; but building stones are scarce in that neighbourhood, and we
had not sufficient lime,--as we had to procure burnt lime from Sierra
Leone, or shells from Accra, both of which we obtained for the building
of an armourer's shop and a bakehouse. Indeed, we were obliged to use
the utmost exertion to get any thing erected to shelter the Europeans
and African soldiers, before the rainy season set in. As for the African
mechanics and labourers, they built their own huts, in certain lines,
that we called streets.

CHAP. X.

Slave Canoe--Duke's Pilot--Old Calabar Town--Consternation on Shore,
and disappearance of the Slave Vessels--Fruitless Pursuit of the
Slavers--Eyo Eyo, King Eyo's Brother--Old Calabar Festivals--Attempted
Assassination, and Duke Ephraim's Dilemma--Obesity of the King's
Wives--Ordeal for Regal Honours--Duke's English House--Coasting Voyage
to the Bonny--Author discovers Symptoms of Fever--The Rivers of St.
Nicholas, Sombrero, St. Bartholomew, and Sta. Barbara--"The Smokes"--
Capture of a Spanish Slave Vessel in the River St. John--Nun, or First
Brass River, discovered to be the Niger--Natural Inland Navigation--
New Calabar River--Pilot's Jhu Jhu--Foche Island--Author Sleeps on
Shore--Bonny Bath--Interview with King Peppel--Ceremony of
opening the Trade--Rashness of a Slave Dealer--Horrible Fanaticism--
Schooner at Sea--Return to Fernando Po

_Wednesday, January 23, 1828_.--Fortunately the wind was light, for had
it blown hard, the result might have been fatal to the vessel. At seven
in the morning, we found the vessel afloat, and attempted, with a small
anchor and cable, assisted by the sails, to get her over the mud: but,
at eleven o'clock, we were again stuck fast. In the afternoon, we sent a
letter by a Krooman, in a small canoe, to Captain Cumings, of the brig
Kent, lying off the town of Old Calabar, commonly called Duke's Town, as
the king of that country is generally known by the name and title of
Duke Ephraim. In about a couple of hours, the Krooman returned, in
consequence of having met with a very large canoe coming down on her
passage to the Camaroon river, to purchase slaves. He induced the
Captain to come on board, but the appearance of a schooner, with so
large a boat and so many hands, evidently created some suspicion in his
mind. He was