g of
the following day we anchored at Tobago, got rid of the soldiers' money,
and sailed next morning for Trinidad, which we made the same evening, but
owing to the strong current opposing us through the Boca Chien, or, as it
is otherwise called, the Great Dragon's Mouth, we did not gain the
anchorage before noon on the following day.

On opening a sealed order I had received from the Commander-in-Chief at
Barbadoes I found I was to take on board some casks of lime juice for the
men of the hospitals of Jamaica. Thinks I to myself, this is what Mr. Hume
would have, in the Commons House, called jobbery, and a poor kind of job
it turned out; for, on inspecting the lime juice at Port Royal, some of it
was condemned as unfit for use. The two days I remained at Trinidad I
dined with the Governor, Sir Thos. Heslip, who was urbanity itself. I
visited the pitch lake at this place, which is a most extraordinary
phenomenon. I remarked several large chasms in it, where small fish were
enjoying themselves. I was told by the officer who accompanied me that the
pitch could not be applied to any use. Whilst we were looking at it one of
the smaller chasms, or rents, closed with a bubbling noise, and the water
above it appeared as if boiling. At daylight on the third day I sailed
with the convoy for Jamaica, and anchored at Port Royal. The day after I
waited on the Admiral at the Pen, where I dined, and met a number of my
brother officers, whose conversation after dinner was principally
respecting their ships. As the ship I commanded was healthy I was, if
possible, determined to keep her so, and I requested permission to sail on
a long cruise as soon as we were refitted. The Pen, or the Government
House, where the Admiral resides, is about three short miles from
Greenwich. It is enclosed in a park, and the views from it are extensive
and beautiful. Some of my former parti-coloured beauties of Port Royal had
gone on the other tack--that is, they had taken up their everlasting abode
among the land crabs on the Palisades, and as I partook of those
crustaceous fish I very possibly might have eaten some part of them. If I
did, I thought them very good.

The yellow fever was making rapid strides on board the squadron. It
fortunately did not reach us, and we sailed on the tenth day after our
arrival. My cruising ground was between the north side of Jamaica and
Cuba. I frequently sighted the Moro Castle at the entrance of the river
where I was