e
remainder of the night. We might fancy the man a slave-dealer or
pirate, or an outlaw of some sort; but we had no proof of this, and if
so, he would be able to commit as much mischief at the Cape as here.
Our chief fear was that he might lead the prisoners we were about to
liberate into crime. Then again came in the promise made to him, and we
felt that they had been driven to mutiny by the greatest cruelty, and
that if carried on to the Cape they would be severely punished. Thus I
must leave it to others to decide whether we were right or wrong in
liberating the prisoners. The offer was made to them by the doctor, who
explained the nature of the country, and the hardships they would have
to go through, and the dangers to which they would be exposed, but
notwithstanding this, they all at once preferred being landed to
undergoing a trial for the crime they had committed.

When daylight came we found ourselves in a strangely wild place. Near
us were rocks, and cliffs, and sandbanks, and further inland palm-trees
and other tropical productions, with a wide extent of grassy, undulating
plains, or rather uplands, between the shore and the hills; but not a
sign was there of human habitations or human beings. Mr Barwell was
busy in making preparations for his departure. Certain trunks and
packages were got up, and he begged to purchase some sail-cloth for a
tent, and some provisions, which of course were not refused. We had
altogether fifteen prisoners. When Barwell, dressed in his brown suit,
and looking perfectly the unassuming artisan he had pretended to be, had
taken his seat, six of them were told off into the boat and carried on
shore. The boat then returned for the remainder, and for the stores and
provisions which Mr Barwell--for so I will still call him--had
purchased. The mates added several more things, so that altogether the
party were not ill supplied; and in that climate, with an abundant
supply of food to be found in its wild state, they might very well be
able to support existence till they could find means to quit it.
Barwell had, it appeared, a rifle and a supply of ammunition, and he had
purchased a fowling-piece from one of the passengers, and five or six
muskets for his companions, so that they might be able to defend
themselves against any attack from the natives they might fall in with.
Mr Henley told me, however, he believed that in that southern part of
the African coast the natives were s