ner up their river to trade; they
requested him to lose no time, and offered to leave a large canoe for
our use, when we returned from the Bonny; however, Captain Smith would
not agree to their request; and when they discovered, that, instead of
being a trader, we were looking out for slavers, they were glad to get
away. Our pilot partook of their alarm, and, on the following morning,
he sent back the casks empty, with a message, that he could not come on
board again.

There is much enmity between the Bonny and the New Calabar people,
arising principally out of their rivalship in the trade with foreign
vessels. A short time ago, they had a fight on board an English ship,
under the following circumstances.

The New Calabar people had got on board the ship Huskinson, and were
taking her up to their town. On the passage, they were attacked by a
number of large canoes, well manned and armed, from the Bonny: a
desperate struggle ensued; the Bonny people lost many lives, but they
succeeded in boarding the vessel, dislodging their opponents, and
triumphantly carried the ship into their river; thus securing all her
trade to themselves. This fight did not, on the present occasion,
produce war between the rival people, as such incidents usually do; it
merely had the effect of suspending their intercourse for a short
period. Their war canoes are very large, and will carry from 50 to 100
men, well armed with muskets, pistols, sabres, and sometimes a small gun
in the bow.

We got under weigh in the afternoon, without a pilot, and worked the
schooner over the bar, which is very narrow, and stood out to sea that
evening, notwithstanding there was a fresh breeze against us, through a
very intricate navigation. It was at the entrance of this river that one
of the boats of H.M.S. Maidstone was upset. She had come to an anchor in
the evening, with the tide running in, which made the water very smooth;
but, in the middle of the night, at the turn of the tide, they found the
boat rolling about very uneasily. This very much surprised them, because
the wind had not arisen; the sea soon began to break over them, when the
boat upset, and the surgeon's assistant, with several other persons, was
drowned. This proceeded from the ebb tide encountering the ordinary set
on the land. We left the Bonny with the intention of visiting our
friends in the Old Calabar, in the hope of meeting the Frenchman, who
had shot the mate of the Kent.

_Tuesday,