n after the admiral brought me some warm cocoa, smoked
meat and roasted plantains to eat. My appetite being good I made a
hearty dinner. After some time my Indians returned from the woods with
some coarse food they had gathered in the swamps. I told the admiral I
had paid these Indians in advance to transport my goods to Pearl Key
Lagoon, that they had broken their contract, and that they appeared
determined to leave me here. After conversing with them some time, he
told me they said they were half starved, had not any provisions to
proceed with, and would not go any farther. He also said they were
mountain Indians, living in the interior of the country, and were not
under his control, but ordered them to put the goods into their canoes
and carry me into the mouth of the river, where I would find the two
boats which had left me some days before.

In the afternoon I was visited by the admiral, his two wives, and a
number of his tribe. I made him and his wives many presents, and he
promised to meet me the next day at the mouth of the river, when he
would furnish me with men and canoes to carry me to the Lagoon. He left
me soon after to return to his home. We proceeded with our three canoes
into the mouth of the river, where I found the other two, one of them
belonging to the pilot, who told me that, in crossing the bar at the
mouth of the river, the captain's canoe had turned over and lost one box
of check cloth, the ten gallon keg of rum, and they had both sunk, that
they had fished for them a long time, but could not find them; also,
that the captain had lost his dinner-pot by upsetting his canoe, and I
must pay him for it, because he was at work for me. Another Indian had
wrapped himself in his canoe-sail, and had laid so near the fire he had
burnt a hole in it, and I must pay for it because he was in my employ.

Soon after my arrival in the mouth of the river the pilot told me he
would go to the admiral's house and procure me some provisions; he left,
followed by the whole gang, except one sick Indian who remained with me,
with whom I could not converse except by signs. Knowing that a keg of
rum would not sink in the water, I thought it best to search the shore
and see what discoveries I could make. After walking about one-fourth of
a mile I discovered a cow-hide secreted in the edge of the woods, which
drew my attention to it. By removing the hide I discovered the box of
dry goods and the dinner-pot for which he had