arises from a mistaken wish to save trouble and time—­a poor excuse for risking the loss of lives and property.  I am sure this will not be the case with Captain Owen, for I believe he knows the ground under water where his ship is in soundings, as well as that which he sees above it; and among the jokes of the crew of his ship, there was one on his late surveying voyage, uttered by an old sailor, who said, that as soon as he was paid off, he would set up a public-house in Wapping, with the sign of The Bag and Nippers,[19] and the words “Watch, there, watch!” written underneath.  Notwithstanding this poor fellow’s joke, he entered a second time with Captain Owen, on board the Eden, for an equally hazardous voyage, which he did not survive.  I was near him in his last moments, when the fatal signal of ebbing life—­the rattles in the throat—­fell on the ear like the melancholy sound of the muffled drum in a dead march.

Sunday, 7th.—­Light airs and variable, with rain at times.  Cape Mesurada in sight great part of the day.  Under the eastern side of this Cape is the American settlement of Liberia.  The origin and progress of this colony present so many points of interest, that I am induced to lay before my readers a succinct account of its early history.  I am chiefly indebted for the materials of this sketch to a pamphlet, which I procured in Sierra Leone, published a short time before in Washington.

The first efforts of the American Colonization Society were directed to Sierra Leone in 1818, when two Agents were sent there to purchase land for a new colony; on their arrival at their destination, two men of colour, well acquainted with the coast, accompanied them on a voyage of exploration.  Having examined all the places which appeared suitable for their purposes, they finally made arrangements for forming the new colony on Sherbro Island, about 100 miles south of Sierra Leone, when one of the agents returned to America, the other having died on his passage.  The Society now resolved to fit out an expedition immediately, in which they were greatly aided by the President, the object seeming to be well calculated to promote the political advantages of the United States.  The first colonists left America in February, 1820.  They consisted of two government agents, one from the society, and eighty-eight persons of colour.  These emigrants were very unfortunate:  they arrived just at the commencement of the rainy season, the damps of which were much increased by the unhealthiness of the low, marshy ground of the Sherbro.  The result was that all the agents, and a great number of the colonists died; the remainder wisely abandoned a speculation so fruitful of risk.  Those people remained at Sierra Leone until new agents were sent out, and another spot selected lor colonization.  The new scene of operations was Liberia.