rning that he never had quitted a ship on the
bar, and never would. Three vessels that had got under weigh in company
with the Shakspeare were set fast about a hundred yards farther over
than ourselves, and now lay right a-beam of the Coromandel drawing
seventeen feet: when she will forge over is past all calculation; our
own chance of a speedy move does not appear to me very bright.

All day set firm, a little movement perceptible at night: contemplate
returning to New Orleans if a boat goes up to morrow.

_Mem._--Never go by sea if in any haste, however tempting the prospect:
just one week lost to-day, in addition to much vexation of spirit.

To complete the discomfort of our condition, the weather is raw and
cold; clouds above, mud and misery below and about.

_Tuesday, 24th._--Ship forging ahead slowly. At meridian the Spanish
ship got away, and, in an hour after her, over slid the bark, leaving us
gazing after them with longing eyes.

About six P.M. the Shakspeare took a long slide, just clearing the
bowsprit of the Coromandel. Breeze getting up from S.S.E. a little sea
coming in. Our pilot, it seems, does not know when the tide is at its
highest, but thinking we might slide over suddenly in the night, this
efficient person now quitted us, taking to our larger neighbour, whose
chance, I am sorry to say, does not seem great of a hasty removal. She
lies nearly on her beam-ends, with very little motion, thirteen feet
water under her bowsprit end.

After amusing myself all day taking different bearings, and calculating
each inch we made, got disgusted at last, and about midnight crept into
bed, praying Heaven henceforward to be kept clear of all bars, from this
of the Balize to the bar of the Old Bailey; although I do think, if I
had a choice, I should prefer being arraigned for highway-robbery, or
any other gentlemanlike felony, at the latter, to the being kept for a
month weltering in mud upon the former.

_Wednesday, 25th._--Prospect a little brighter, a swell setting in from
the eastward; the ship evidently working over, as we now have sixteen
feet water within half our length ahead: day mild and clear, with a
south-easterly breeze: all the passengers busy noting our snail-like
progress: the poor Coromandel, which is fixed as a rock, affords us an
excellent _land_-mark; we have slipped by her inch by inch. At three
o'clock P.M. the ship's bow is all alive, the heel alone hangs on the
ridge: a French brig is