Friday, 25.—­At three this morning, the same party returned; and, soon after daylight, we got the schooner under weigh, to beat up the river, and the Duke’s head pilot came on board, when to prove the confidence that might be reposed in him, he brought a certificate from Lieutenant Corry, of H.M.S.  North Star, which stated that he had piloted that ship’s boats up the river, as well as conducted them down, with a slave-vessel that they had seized.  We blackened the schooner’s yellow sides with a mixture of gunpowder and water.  This, however, was not a very safe pigment, for if a spark of fire had happened to have come in contact with any part of her side, it would have communicated from one extremity to the other:  but it served for a temporary disguise, which was all we required.

About noon, we came abreast of the town of Old Calabar, where we observed the greatest confusion.  Armed men, of different colours and nations, were running about in all directions, preparing, as we imagined, to oppose our landing, for it was evident they were alarmed at our appearance, which sufficiently indicated our intentions.  The slave-vessels, afraid of being seized, had disappeared from before the town, and gone farther up the river before we arrived, so that, however we might have been otherwise disposed, we did not drop anchor, but continued to advance as long as the tide served, which was till half-past one, when the wind failing, we were obliged to anchor.  The Duke’s pilot, when we were off the town, requested to leave us for a short time; he said, he “must go tell Duke news, and come back directly.”  We afterwards discovered that his pretence to go ashore, was merely a subterfuge to get away altogether, for he never returned, and we had good reason for believing, that all the people, from the Duke (or King, which is the same thing) to the meanest of his subjects, secretly abet the unlawful proceedings of the slavers, by whom they realize much larger profits than by the regular traders.  At three, we sent the small canoe, with two Kroomen, up the river, to ascertain the situation of the slave-vessels, and soon got under weigh to follow them; but the wind dying off towards sunset, we were obliged to anchor again.  About an hour afterwards, our canoe returned, with information that three slave schooners, and a brig, had gone still farther up the river, indeed, as far as the navigation of the river would allow, where they had fortified themselves in the strongest manner, to resist any attack on our part:  having also the support of all the authorities of the native towns and villages that could, with any show of prudence, be extended to them.  We also understood, that they had not a slave on board of either of them, which was likely enough, as it is not customary to put them on board until they are on the point of sailing.  These circumstances determined Lieutenant Badgeley to return to the town, in which resolution he was also influenced by the consideration