Monday, 24th.—­Their boat was manned and sent to the before-mentioned town.—­I was informed by a line from Nickola, that the pirates had a man on board, a native of Principe, who, in the garb of a sailor, was a partner with Dominico, but I could not get sight of him.  This lets us a little into the plans by which this atrocious system of piracy has been carried on.  Merchants having partners on board of these pirates! thus pirates at sea and robbers on land are associated to destroy the peaceful trader.  The willingness exhibited by the seven above-mentioned men, to join our gang of pirates, seems to look like a general understanding among them; and from there being merchants on shore so base as to encourage the plunder and vend the goods, I am persuaded there has been a systematic confederacy on the part of these unprincipled desperadoes, under cover of the patriot flag; and those on land are no better than those on the sea.  If the governments to whom they belong know of the atrocities committed (and I have but little doubt they do) they deserve the execration of all mankind.

Thursday, 27th.—­A gang of the pirates came and stripped our masts of the green bushes, saying, “she appeared more like a sail than trees”—­took one barrel of bread and one of potatoes, using about one of each every day.  I understood they were waiting for boats to take the cargo; for the principal merchant had gone to Trinidad.

Sunday, 30th.—­The beginning of trouble!  This day, which peculiarly reminds Christians of the high duties of compassion and benevolence, was never observed by these pirates.  This, of course, we might expect, as they did not often know when the day came, and if they knew it, it was spent in gambling.  The old saying among seamen, “no Sunday off soundings,” was not thought of; and even this poor plea was not theirs, for they were on soundings and often at anchor.—­Early this morning, the merchant, as they called him, came with a large boat for the cargo.  I was immediately ordered into the boat with my crew, not allowed any breakfast, and carried about three miles to a small island out of sight of the Exertion, and left there by the side of a little pond of thick, muddy water, which proved to be very brackish, with nothing to eat but a few biscuits.  One of the boat’s men told us the merchant was afraid of being recognized, and when he had gone the boat would return for us; but we had great reason to apprehend they would deceive us, and therefore passed the day in the utmost anxiety.  At night, however, the boats came and took us again on board the Exertion; when, to our surprise and astonishment, we found they had broken open the trunks and chests, and taken all our wearing apparel, not even leaving a shirt or pair of pantaloons, nor sparing a small miniature of my wife which was in my trunk.  The little money I and my mate had, with some belonging to the owners, my mate had previously distributed about the cabin in three or four parcels, while I