ty and good will of the natives, that he
could not at first believe that the destructive fire, by which he was
literally surrounded, was any thing more than a mode of salutation
they had adopted in honour of his arrival. But the Kroomen who had
leaped into the boat, and who fell wounded by his side, soon
convinced him of his mistake, and plainly discovered to him the
fearful nature of the peril into which he had fallen so unexpectedly,
and the difficulty he would experience in extricating himself from
it. Encouraging his comrades with his voice and gestures, Lander
prepared to defend himself to the last, and a loud and simultaneous
shout from his little party assured him that they shared his
feelings, and would follow his example. Meanwhile, several of the
savages having come out of their concealment, were brought down by
the shots of the English, but Lander whilst stopping to pick up a
cartridge from the bottom of the canoe, was struck near the hip by a
musket ball. The shock made him stagger, but he did not fall, and he
continued cheering on his men. Soon finding, however, his ammunition
expended, himself seriously wounded, the courage of his Kroomen
beginning to droop, and the firing of his assailants, instead of
diminishing become more general than ever, he resolved to attempt
getting into the smaller canoe, afloat at a short distance, as the
only remaining chance of preserving a single life. For this purpose,
abandoning their property, the survivors threw themselves into the
stream, and with much difficulty, for the strength of the current was
incredibly strong, most of them succeeded in accomplishing their
object. No sooner was this observed by the men in ambush, than they
started up and rushed out with wild and hideous yells; canoes that
had been hidden behind the luxuriant foliage which overhung the
river, were in an instant pushed out into the middle of the stream,
and pursued the fugitives with surprising velocity; whilst numbers of
people, with savage antics and furious gesticulations, ran and danced
along the beach, uttering loud and startling cries. The Kroomen
maintained on this occasion, the good reputation which their
countrymen have deservedly acquired; their lives depended on their
energy and skill, and they impelled their slender bark through the
water with unrivalled swiftness. The pursuit was kept up for four
hours, and poor Lander, without ammunition or any defensive weapon
whatever, was exposed t