shoes. Seeing his _majestic_ appearance, I approached him with
all the politeness of a French dancing-master. After the ceremonies were
ended, he asked me what country I came from, and what articles I wanted
to purchase. I replied that I came from New-York, in North America, and
that I belonged to the same continent that he did; that I wanted to
purchase tortoise-shell, cow-hides, deer-skins, gum elastic, gum copal,
cochineal, &c. We spent some time in ascertaining the Indian names of
the gums, &c. before he understood what articles I wanted to purchase.
He said, "Indian man and American man all one country belongs to, all
the same as brothers, me right king's officer, all white men must help
um; me good man, have good head, savy good? this place all me belong to.
To-morrow I send plenty men to fetch you skins, gums, and every thing
you want."

After all our arrangements were completed, it being the first time I
ever had the honor of negotiating with an _admiral_, I invited him to go
on board my vessel and drink tea with me; which invitation he readily
accepted. On our arrival on board, my little table was soon placed on
deck under an awning. The cook supplied us with the best our little
sloop afforded; the _admiral_ was seated at the head of the table, and
waited on in the politest manner. After he had finished his tea, he
drank a few glasses of rum and returned to his home.

When the cook set his table the next morning, he missed his tea spoons.
Diligent search was made for them, but they could not be found. We
charged the poor old cook with throwing them overboard in shaking out
his crumbs of the table-cloth, which he strongly denied. The spoons cost
about two or three cents apiece. The next day I called at the admiral's
house, where I saw his children playing with my spoons. On inquiring I
found the admiral had carried them on shore in his breeches pocket.

I remained at the Cape about one week, where I purchased a small
quantity of tortoise-shell, some hides, deer-skins, tiger-skins, gums,
&c. My owners had given me orders on my arrival in that country to
procure an Indian pilot who was well acquainted with the coast.

My old friend, Admiral Dalby, procured me a pilot to conduct me to Pearl
Key Lagoon, where most of the inhabitants spoke good English. I had a
letter of introduction to an inhabitant of that place, whose name was
Edward Patterson, a native of Curracoa, who had lived with the
Musquitoes many years,