the sea-tide carried it
away.

HIS CHARACTER.

Such, we have every reason to believe, was the untimely fate of this
amiable and talented man. It is a melancholy satisfaction to me thus
publicly to record his worth; instrumental, as I cannot but in some
measure consider my last journey to have been in leading to this fatal
catastrophe. Captain Barker was in disposition, as he was in the close
of his life, in many respects similar to Captain Cook. Mild, affable, and
attentive, he had the esteem and regard of every companion, and the
respect of every one under him. Zealous in the discharge of his public
duties, honourable and just in private life; a lover and a follower of
science; indefatigable and dauntless in his pursuits; a steady friend,
an entertaining companion; charitable, kind-hearted, disinterested,
and sincere--the task is equally difficult to find adequate expressions of
praise or of regret. In him the king lost one of his most valuable
officers, and his regiment one of its most efficient members. Beloved as
he was, the news of his loss struck his numerous friends with sincere
grief, but by none was it more severely felt than by the humble individual
who has endeavoured thus feebly to draw his portrait.

From the same source from which the particulars of his death were
obtained, it was reported that the natives who perpetrated the deed were
influenced by no other motive than curiosity to ascertain if they had
power to kill a white man. But we must be careful in giving credit to
this, for it is much more probable that the cruelties exercised by the
sealers towards the blacks along the south coast, may have instigated the
latter to take vengeance on the innocent as well as on the guilty. It will
be seen, by a reference to the chart, that Captain Barker, by crossing the
channel, threw himself into the very hands of that tribe which had evinced
such determined hostility to myself and my men. He got into the rear of
their strong hold, and was sacrificed to those feelings of suspicion, and
to that desire of revenge, which the savages never lose sight of until
they have been gratified.

FEATURES OF THE COUNTRY, AND CAPABILITIES OF THE COAST.

It yet remains for me to state that when Mr. Kent returned to the
schooner, after this irreparable loss, he kept to the south of the place
at which he had crossed the first range with Captain Barker, and travelled
through a valley right across the promontory. He thus discov