divested himself of his shirt and trowsers, and tied his handkerchief about his head; the tornado continued to blow strong for an hour, when the wind veered to the northward, and blew fresh from the land during the greater part of the night, which retarded his progress to the shore. He swam towards it, as nearly as he could calculate, about half an hour at a time, and that alternately on his back, and on his stomach, when he would rest himself, by remaining nearly motionless on his back for as long a period, with his head generally as he supposed towards the shore; and he often fancied that he had made much greater progress towards it than proved to be the case: for the wind blowing from the land, and his ear being nearly on a level with the water, caused the sound of the surf roaring on the beach to be sometimes so audible, as to give him the impression of his being just about to enter it, when he would renew his exertion of swimming, and be disap

pointed in the result. His remaining so long in the water as ten hours, and without any support but what he derived from his own exertion, appears almost fabulous; and can only be accounted for by his superior muscular strength and self-possession, being aided by the temperature of the water approaching that of his body, by which means, heat was but slowly (if at all) abstracted from it; the specific gravity also of sea water being in all probability considerably augmented near the equator by excessive evaporation, his body floated in it without much muscular exertion being required.

The country surrounding Grewhe is fertile, open, and level, exhibiting large savannahs covered with high grass, although in some parts thickly wooded with fine To the north of the town are grown trees. some well cultivated lands producing pease, calavancies, maize, and yams, over which passes the road leading through the towns

of Xavier and Tory to Abomey, the king's

usual residence.

A few miles to the north-west of Tory is the western extremity of the lagoon, or lake of Ardrah; and in the vicinity of Tory there is a very favourite spot in the river to which elephants resort to bathe. Herds of them are often to be seen; and it is an annual custom with the European residents at Grewhe, to make a party of pleasure to visit the elephant grounds, or to go, as they called it, an elephant shooting. One of these animals, having by accident separated from the herd, was seen, early one morning, in front of the English fort. The town was soon in arms, and gave chace, expecting no doubt to have a fine feast; but the animal, with admirable sagacity, made a circuit, and avoided the French fort, and the straggling houses between it and the English one, galloped off into the woods, and eluded his pursuers, who, in the course of the chace, had often fired at it without effect.

The monarch of Dahomy is a most rapacious fellow, and treats even Europeans with but little courtesy; for he frequently, under some frivolous pretext, embarrasses them in their trade in order to extort presents from them, and sometimes prevents captains from visiting their vessels, without first obtaining his special permission. Of his rapacity the following is a memorable

instance.

The boat employed in watering the ship which I commanded, having seven men in her, broke adrift one night from her moorings whilst they were all asleep, and it was not until the boat was in the breakers that the crew awoke, and became sensible of their perilous situation. To retreat was impracticable, for the boat was soon filled with water, and drifted through the breakers upon the shore, where the crew also landed in perfect safety, some by swimming, others by adhering to the boat, oars, &c. At day-break, they were surrounded by a

number of natives, who, after spending a few minutes in consultation, told them, they must be taken to the king at Abomey, a distance of 90 miles, although they were only 4 or 5 miles from Grewhe, where I then resided. They remonstrated against this proceeding, but remonstrance was in vain, and one of them, who to escape so disagreeable a journey affected lameness, and said, "that he could not walk," had his hands and feet tied together, and a pole introduced between them, and in this way, they were going to carry him to Abomey, when, to avoid so painful an alternative, he found the use of his limbs, and marched along with his unfortunate companions. These poor fellows reached Abomey the fourth day; and a negociation was commenced by me with the Evougah for their redemption, as soon as he received the king's orders respecting them. His first demand was the price of a prime slave (equal to 147. sterling) for each individual,