consisting chiefly of the beef and pork which remained from the American war, and which, after lying five or six years in store, were, from a false principle of economy, supplied to ships bound on a long voyage, and requiring every attention to preserve the health of the crews. Thus we see a continuation of those practices which had been so fatal to Lord Anson's expedition, which unmanned the fleet of Sir Edward Hughes, and would eventually have ruined the navy, had they not received a timely check by a more vigilant administration.

Our ships reached the harbour of Rio Janeiro in May, 1789, and for three weeks enjoyed all the luxuries of that abundant and delightful country, than which it is impossible for the human mind to conceive anything more enchanting. The scene which presents itself at sunrise on a clear morning surpasses all the powers of description, and bids defiance to the imitative pencil. Mountains of stupendous height occupy

the whole circle of the horizon, tinted with a bluish mist, and assuming the richest verdure, as they decline towards the sides of the river, whose banks are overgrown with plantations of orange-trees and other tropical fruits; and so plentiful was the produce that in our walks we were gratuitously permitted to gather whatever we required for our own immediate

use.

The harbour is one of the largest in the world, and therefore not so secure an anchorage; the holding-ground is, however, good. The town of St. Sebastian is on the south side, and well adapted for commerce; the north side is covered by the hand of nature, and the industry of man, with every object that can fascinate the eye, particularly of those who had endured the confinement of a three months' voyage. The centre of the river is thickly studded with little romantic islands, highly cultivated, and having monasteries upon them for the reception of the religious of both

sexes.

All communication with the interior of the country was strictly prohibited; and happy, we believe, was the executive government when it beheld the departure of our ships.

The squadron having been refreshed, and having made

good their defects at this beautiful place, put to sea again, and proceeded round the Cape of Good Hope to India, passing through the Mosambique Channel: we touched for a few days at the pretty island of Johanna, where the ship was run aground on a clear sunny day, when the rocks were visible under water, and the officer on the forecastle reported the fact to the quarter-deck. The answer was, "We see it, sir," and, soon after, bump she went. I well remember being so delighted with the view of the hills covered with orange trees and other tropical fruits, that I could not help exclaiming, with a voice natural to a boy, but very unusual, as I found to my sorrow, on the quarter-deck or poop of a ship of war; for this offence I was severely rebuked, and ordered up into the mizen top. I obeyed with great reluctance, wishing, as I leisurely ascended the ratlines, that the ship might go on shore, if only to plague the Captain, little thinking how soon my malediction was to be gratified, for I was scarcely seated on my lofty perch, when the shaking of the mast, and the uproar and confusion on deck, convinced me that all was not right; so I conveyed myself down much quicker than I mounted, and greatly enjoyed the fright of the man who had frightened me. We got off without any damage, but I took care to keep the Captain at a very respectful distance from that time. To do him justice, he was a plain, honest, upright man, without the least polish; one of the old school, who thought it right to govern by terror rather than love, he treated me as others had treated him. Although of the same name, he was no relation to the Commodore by whom he was patronized. The latter was also a singular character: a braver, a more upright, and honest man, or one more jealous of his country's honour, never trod the quarter-deck; but, to use the expression of a lively Frenchman, "Il avoit un grand talent pour le silence;" his taciturnity was so persevering, that, during the whole time I was under his command, I never heard the sound of his voice more than six or seven times. He never laughed, and seldom smiled, and kept his officers at an awful distance; but I have heard that after I left India he was induced by some medical, or other advisers, to live more freely and cheerfully, and that he became much more sociable.

On our arrival in India, in September, 1789, the Commodore shifted his broad pendant into the Perseverance, and sailed from Madras roads to Calcutta, leaving the Crown to go to Trincomalee, and thence round to Bombay. We had tremendous weather in beating round Cape Comorin against the south-west monsoon, but at length, about November, we reached Bombay, where the ship was repaired and everything set to rights: she was painted inside and out, and the quarterdeck, which had been black, was converted to a lively green. For five months we enjoyed the pleasures and the idleness of a Bombay harbour; and I look back to this period as one of the happiest of my life. At length, the Commodore arrived from Calcutta, and the whole scene was immediately changed; he found great fault with our favourite Captain Byron, the senior officer, for the extravagance of our repairs, in which also those of the Phoenix were included. Captain James Cornwallis was told that, if he chose to "invalid," his place could be easily supplied; he took the hint and went home, and the quarter-deck was again painted black. There had been a glaring instance of immorality practised on our passage out by the chaplain, a most worthless fellow, smuggling a woman on board under the pretence of her being necessary to the comfort of his daughter, who had gone out in an Indiaman. The Commodore believed this, but the Captain detected the infamous trick, and treated the chaplain as he deserved. This the Commodore resented, and thence the quarrel, which soon after exploded under another pretence; it was observed when the Commodore left the ship, at Madras, the chaplain was the only person he took notice of; and, at his rejoining at Bombay, the storm burst. Dr. ***, the subject of this little digression, also left the ship at Madras, and received a very handsome appointment at Trichinopoly, where he soon after died. The injury done to the morals of the ship's company by this wretch is not to be described. Earl Cornwallis, the brother of the Commodore, was at that time Governor General, and it was supposed that to him the worthy Doctor was indebted for his appointment. His patrons, I have no doubt, did not know what I saw; if they had, they would have sent him home before the mast.

On his arrival in India, the Commodore most rigorously

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followed up his instructions for the reform of abuses, and which had been one of the chief objects of his voyage. Having communicated personally with his brother, the Governor General, he had agreed to improve the establishment and Naval Dockyard at the Andaman Islands.

In the treaty of peace of 1783, it appears that our negotiators were fully sensible of the vast importance of having a harbour on the eastern side of the peninsula of India, but found it impossible to regain the possession of Trincomalee, in the island of Ceylon. This place had been taken by the forces under Sir Edward Hughes in 1782 (Beatson, vol. v. p. 564), and retaken the same year by the fleet under Mons. de Suffrein, (Ibid. p. 597.) The French ministers were firm on that subject, and there was no other alternative but continuing the war, at an enormous expense, with the uncertainty of suc

cess.

In the year 1788, our Indian government became more sensible of the distress to which our navy and commerce would be reduced for want of a port of equipment on the coast of Coromandel, and attempted to make a settlement in the Andaman Islands above alluded to. In pursuance of this plan, they sent over a small force to take possession of a place which they named Port Cornwallis, a good harbour with a sufficient depth of water and a safe anchorage. Here a block-house was built, and the place fortified: the Crown was the first British 'ship of the line that anchored in it; and the Commodore, after making some observations, proceeded to another place further north on the Great Andaman, called North-East Harbour: this appeared to be better adapted for the purpose than the first, and effective means were taken for establishing a dockyard, and forming an extensive settlement. The islands abounded in the finest timber and fresh water; and, by cultivation, a variety of produce might have been raised. The only obstacles were, the distance from the coast, the difficulty of crossing the bay of Bengal in the south-west monsoon, and the rains which prevail for nearly eight months in the year.

The inhabitants of the Andaman islands were few in number, but their hostility was at first troublesome. They were very expert with the bow and arrow, transfixing, as they wan

dered along the shore, the small fish with great certainty; and the wild hog seldom escaped from the dexterity of his pursuers. Their bows and arrows were about six feet long, and made in a style of neatness which, considering their savage state, was truly suprising: the use of iron was little known among them, being never applied to any other purpose but that of heading their arrows: these were made of reeds pointed with fish-bone or iron, and never without a barb. At North-East Harbour, our boats rowed along the thick jungle, which, projecting some feet from the land, grew over and touched the water, forming an impenetrable thicket, whence the savage shot his arrow in security with almost unerring aim: the boats returned with four men wounded, and disappointed in the object of their search, to find fresh water. The Commodore, with a strong party of officers and marines, landed on a small island, to which three canoes had been seen to go early on the same morning: on this spot the trees were, as on the main land, so thick, that our men could not penetrate; and, as they walked round the sandy beach in search of an entrance, eleven of them received severe wounds from the arrows of the savages concealed in the woods. Some hours elapsed before they were discovered; at length, when seen in the tops of the trees, the enraged marines quickly despatched seven of them, and three were taken with their canoes. Never was man found in a more perfect state of nature: they were all males, without a vestige of clothing; their woolly heads smeared with a red ochre, or earth; their bodies tattooed; their stature under the middling size, or about four feet seven inches! They exhibited the utmost degree of terror when brought on board, with their hands tied behind their backs, and attempted to bite all who came near them, but were pacified by kindness, and soon became so familiar as to dance, in their style, to our drum and fife. We had strong suspicions of their being cannibals, some of the Governor's people at Port Cornwallis having been found murdered, and slices cut out of them, as if intended for food. They appeared apprehensive they were to meet a similar fate, and at night one of them jumped overboard and escaped: the other two on the following day were landed, and we saw them no more. On the recapture of Trincomalee, in 1795, the possession of the Andaman islands was no longer of that