tinctly attributable to Mr. Taylor, who had repeatedly exhibited a most lamentable amount of apathy and indecision, besides displaying great lack of judgment, and an unpardonable want of interest in our success. Nor were the direct interests of his employer, Mr. Laird, better attended to; he never went ashore, nor made any commercial inquiries, all the purchases made having been exclusively effected by Dr. Hutchinson. I was tired of ordering, of stimulating, and of complaining, all attempts to rouse the man even to ordinary exertion having been failures. It was useless to desire him to perform what in his opinion was impossible, besides which he had expressed it as his belief that we had now reached the end of the river, which hereabouts expanded into a large lake. On all these considerations, I looked on myself as absolutely obliged to have recourse to the means I have mentioned, and fully justified in assuming the entire responsibility and direction. I therefore told Mr. Harcus, the chief mate, a most praiseworthy and skilful officer, that I should consider him for the future as sailing-master, that his duties should be to look after the ship, and attend to the navigation of the river, a post for which he was admirably qualified. Other arrangements being completed, I ordered steam to be ready for a start by seven in the morning.

CHAPTER V.

THE NEW ADMINISTRATION.

Aug. 18.

By daylight I despatched Mr. Richards in the gig to sound, and by seven o'clock the "Pleiad" was under steam, threading her way along very circuitous channels. When off Erúko a canoe came alongside, bringing me a goat from the King of Bássa, to whom I sent a present in return, promising a visit when we came down the river. We touched the ground several times, but easily got off, and by half-past eleven anchored off Dágbo, certainly by a rather troublesome and winding passage, but which had been only the day before pronounced by Mr. Taylor, after several examinations, as impracticable. A wooding party was immediately sent ashore, and as there was abundant depth of water, the steamer was hauled in close to the bank, which greatly facilitated the shipment of the fuel. Wood was purchased easily and cheaply, and was pronounced by Mr. Guthrie to be of excellent quality. Mr. Crowther and I walked through this little village, now much reduced, and observed numerous plantations of rice, Indian corn, cotton, and tobacco. Dágbo is the first town in the territory of

Dóma, which we were now entering upon, and was the farthest point reached by the "Alburkah " in 1833. At night when Mr. May and I landed, we found mosquitoes so numerous and so active, that we had to set the Krúmen to collect straw and sticks for a fire, and under the protection of the smoke obtained the wished-for observations. Next morning Mr. Richards again went a-head to sound, after which we proceeded with gradually decreasing waters, until at last it did not exceed a fathom and a half. Still as this had

Stretching from

been carefully examined we passed on at half speed, and soon reached a better channel. below Erúko to beyond Dágbo is an extensive group of large wooded islands, some of them inhabited, to which I gave the name of the "Admiralty Archipelago." Numerous shoals and sandbanks rendered our navigation somewhat intricate; one moment we might be proceeding nearly at full speed along one side, carrying four fathoms, and a few minutes afterwards slowly groping our way along the opposite shore, the leadsman heaving incessantly, and singing out "quarter less two," or "half one." We were gradually approaching the Dóma hills, which, though not high, are prettily rounded, and clothed, not hid, by fine foliage; the centre peak, which is about the highest, I named after the officer who first delineated the range,

Mount Allen." About four o'clock, though we could see no indications of any town, our guide told us that we were off A'kpoko. We accordingly anchored, and getting into the gig under his pilotage, speedily

discovered an opening, quite concealed from the river, leading into a fine creek, up which we pulled some two hundred yards, and then landing found ourselves close to the town. To enter we had to cross a ditch, some six feet deep, by three small trunks of trees thrown loosely over. On the further side was a narrow gateway closed up after dark by cross-stakes. The people, especially the younger portion, seemed rather alarmed, but were at length satisfied by the assurances of our guide, who as a trader had been here before, and had numerous acquaintances. We went at once to the house of the headman, who, coming to meet us, asked us into a kind of reception court, where mats were spread for us. When all the spectators had paid their humble respects, Zuri came forward, bending lowly on his knees, throwing dust on his head, and repeating ten or a dozen times a short formal salutation, which elicited from the chief a corresponding number of acknowledgments. He then delivered a message from A'ma-A'boko concerning us, which was well received, after which I paid him the usual compliments, and told him the purport of our visit. I gave him a present of red cloth and calicoes, and received from him a fine goat. Seeing people gathering around us with various articles for sale, I said that if they came off at once with us, we would deal with them, to which all present consented. As had been our custom ever since leaving the Confluence, I made inquiries after two white travellers, but could hear tidings of none. The chief, whose

name is Mágaji, is about forty years old, and is an intelligent, good-tempered looking man. We ascertained that no person in A'kpoko had ever seen white men previously, which accounted for the alarm our presence had at first caused. A'kpoko is situated at the foot of one of the Dóma hills, and was by far the cleanest and driest town we had visited. On returning on board we were followed by numerous canoes, bringing ivory, fowls, eggs, and limes; Shea-butter is said to be plentiful, but none was produced. With these people a brisk trade was carried on for long after dark, and many purchases were made.

Hitherto we had invariably kept quite stationary on the Sundays, but, considering the rapid advance of the season, and the vast amount of work in store for us, I felt that I would not be justified in remaining at rest; I therefore determined to proceed during at least part of the day, and accordingly got under Aug. 20. steam by six o'clock. A long island, nearly two miles in extent, on which we had landed the night previous for observations, was named after the oldest of British Admirals, "Sir Charles Ogle's Island." Beyond this the river took a northerly bend, and we found a channel with from four to five fathoms. A group of three islands, which we passed in this reach, I named after a celebrated traveller, though in far other climes, Sir John Richardson. About nine o'clock the water shoaled very suddenly in three casts of the lead from seven fathoms to two, and before the engine could be well stopped we were aground, but getting

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