of January, 1821, Gary and his church were ready
to sail.[59] At half past six in the morning[60] the _Nautilus_,
carrying 28 colonists and a number of children, left Norfolk,
Virginia, en route to Sierra Leone.[61]

As the agents of the American Colonization Society, who made the
journey, had not completed their negotiations for the purchase of a
site for the settlers, the party remained at Freetown, Sierra Leone,
for some months.[62] From there Cary wrote the Corresponding Secretary
of the Baptist Board of Foreign Missions, March 13th:

_Rev. and Dear Sir_

I am happy that an opportunity is now afforded me, to inform the
Board through you, the only proper medium of communication with
them, that we all arrived safe in Africa. We had a long passage
of forty four days, yet we were wonderfully preserved by the
great Ruler of the winds and the seas....

I am truly sorry, that the hopes and expectations of the Board
cannot be realized, as to our missionary labours; for, as it
pleased you to have us connected with the Colonization Society,
and the agents of the Society upon their arrival here, finding
their prospects of getting lands very gloomy, so much so that
they disowned us as colonists; and the government's agent had
captured Africans for whom he was bound, by the laws of the
United States, to procure a place, in order to settle them, or
until there can be a more permanent settlement obtained, the
agent received us as labourers and mechanics, to be settled with
them in order to make preparations for the reception of others;
we are therefore bound to the government's agent. He has rented a
farm, and put us on it, and we must cultivate it for our support,
and for the support of these Africans; and pay as much of the
rent as we can. And as this obligation will last until lands are
purchased by the agents of the Colonization Society, I am greatly
afraid it will not end soon; and until it does end, our mission
labours will be very few. Jesus Christ, our Saviour, when he came
on his mission into this world, was found often with a broad axe
in his hand: and I believe that a good many corn field
missionaries would be a great blessing to this country, that is
if they were not confined to the field by law and by necessity.
We are bound by both. I converse very freely with you on th