Roasted plantain was eaten instead
of bread; palm-wine and grog were the principal beverages, although the
prince, the lieutenant and myself drank two bottles of madeira which I had
brought in the boat. The princess was amiability itself; she was very
black, very fat and very good-natured. After dinner we walked round the
mansion. In one of the yards the young prince showed us a black ostrich,
which was considered a rarity. It stood with its neck erect, and was about
eleven feet high to the crown of its head. Its eyes were fierce and
resembled rubies.

At six o'clock I took my leave of the chieftain and his wife. On entering
the boat, I found a milch cow and calf, two dozen ducks, and a dozen
fowls, besides bows and quivers filled with arrows, a variety of fruits,
and some tiger skins. He had also, at parting, presented me with a gold
ring weighing four ounces. I was overpowered with his disinterested
kindness, and sent him some rum and gunpowder. Before I left the place I
obtained from the master of the slave-ship an order, payable at Jamaica,
for the surgeon's salary and wages of the seamen who had entered. We got
on board the same evening. The next morning I visited the largest of the
Los or Loes Islands, which, I presume, in days of yore had been created by
a volcanic eruption. I struck off some of the rock which contained iron,
and had a ringing sound, and on rubbing it together it smelt of sulphur.
There were a few small houses on the island inhabited by fishermen, who
appeared as poor as Job's stable-boy.

CHAPTER XX.

WITH SLAVE CONVOY.

Return to Sierra Leone--Dinner party aboard--Sail with convoy of
five slave-ships--How the slaves were obtained--Arrive
Barbadoes--Sail for Tobago and Trinidad--Visit Pitch Lake--To
Jamaica--Cruising off Cuba--Futile attempt on two Spanish
privateers--Capture small Spanish privateer--Return to
Jamaica--Arrange exchange with captain of home-going ship--A
challenge to Spanish corvette declined by the latter.

Finding little and seeing less, I repaired on board and made sail for
Sierra Leone, where we anchored next morning. I went on shore and dined
with the Governor, and the day following received an invitation to a
dinner from the principal merchants, which I accepted, and was introduced
to the native king who had sold the settlement to the E