ard the _Virginia_ was only
a small affair, drawn upon a sheet of foolscap paper; but it was so
carefully executed that I felt sure it must be the work of an
experienced hand, and consequently, in all probability, perfectly
accurate. My copy, therefore, to be of any value at all, would have to
be, not a free-hand happy-go-lucky sketch, but an absolute _facsimile_.
There was a great deal of work in it, and not much time wherein to do
it; so, after a little thought, I hit upon the plan of fastening the
outspread original with wafers to the glass of one of the stern windows,
and watering a thin sheet of paper over it. The strong daylight
reflected up from the surface of the water through the glass rendered
the two sheets of paper sufficiently transparent to enable me to see
every line and mark of the original with tolerable clearness through the
sheet upon which I proposed to make my copy; and with the aid of a fine-
pointed pencil I soon had it complete, going over it afterwards with pen
and ink to make it indelible.

Mildmay and I lunched with the skipper that day, and during the course
of the meal we received our final instructions, which were, however,
little more than a recapitulation of those given me in the morning.

The meal over, the cutter's crew were paraded, fully armed, in the waist
of the ship; their ammunition was served out to them, and they were
ordered down into the boat, which lay alongside with a 12-pounder
carronade in her bows, together with the necessary powder and shot for
the same, spare ammunition for the men's muskets, four days' provisions
and water, and, in fact, every necessary for the successful carrying out
of the undertaking upon which we were bound. The skipper then shook
hands with Mildmay and me, wishing us prosperity and success; we went
down over the side into the boat, and the little expedition started.
Three minutes later we were joined by Monsieur Saint Croix in the
_Vestale's_ cutter, when the canvas was set in both boats, the wind,
though dead in our teeth for the passage up the river, being free enough
to carry us as far as Boolambemba Point.

For the remainder of that day and up to about 4 p.m. on the day
following, the expedition progressed without incident of any kind worth
mentioning. Our progress was steady but slow, Mildmay's whole energies
being devoted to the making of a thoroughly satisfactory and trustworthy
survey of the river channel up which we were passing; an