a quantity of the fish and lay them down at some
short distance, and I beckoned to the natives to come and take them, which
they did, tumbling over each other in the scramble. After having taken a
quantity of herrings in three hauls, besides several larger fish, I
proceeded with one of the marines and the coxswain to the town.

I found it a miserable place, much like Goree, but three times the size,
and surrounded by a high fence of thick bamboo matting, supported by long
stakes. All I could purchase were two old Muscovy ducks, some pumpkins,
and a few cocoanuts. One of the ducks got adrift, and a long, lean, hungry
girl caught it and ran off with it into the brushwood, where we lost sight
of her. The people of Goree informed us they were terrible thieves, and we
proved it. The following day I again paid a visit to these Patagonian
people, for the greater part of the men at Cape de Verde were more than
six feet in stature and very slight. They all carried long lances,
principally because of the numerous pattigoes, or hyenas, in their
neighbourhood. The purser, who was with me, purchased with some rum which
the coxswain of the boat brought with him two sacks of beans and some
oranges. I mentioned the loss of my duck the day before to a man who
understood English and spoke it indifferently. As I stood alongside of
him, both the purser and myself, who were five feet seven, appeared like
pigmies. He was at least seven feet two inches, and had an amazing long
lance in his hand. He laughed loud and long at my recital. "Ah, Buckra,"
at last he chuckled out, "you takee care anoder time, eh! and you no
lettee de duck run abay; if you do, anoder piccaninny girl hab it again,
eh?"

"Confound this fellow!" said the purser; "I believe he is a worse rogue
than the girl. Have you had enough of his palaver?" "Almost too much,"
answered I. "Let us pull foot." We returned to the boat, and after an
hour's row got on board. The following day I dined with Commissary
Hamilton, who showed me a letter from the interesting Mr. Mungo Park, who
was surgeon of the regiment he belonged to. Mr. Hamilton told me he had
set out with forty in his party, but that in consequence of sickness it
was reduced to twenty-five; but notwithstanding these drawbacks Park wrote
in good spirits, and was determined to persevere in his journey to
Timbuctoo.

Before we sailed I made another excursion on the mainland, and fell in
with fourteen Arabian travelling merch