BLACK SAILORS. 55

as the black seamen, whom he expected every hour
on board, arrived. He sent me up frequently to
see whether they were coming off, and now, when
too late, he seemed as anxious as anyone had been
to get the vessel out of the river.

I was thankful when at length I found two
canoes alongside with the expected blacks. The
Krumen were fine athletic fellows, neatly dressed
in shirts and trousers, and having all served on
board men-of-war or in merchant vessels, spoke a
little English. They had been hired by the cap-
tain’s agent on shore; and as their wages had been
settled, and they knew the duties they were re-
quired to perform, they went to work at once under
their head man, who had been appointed to act as -
boatswain, and seemed inclined to be orderly and
obedient. Besides the Krumen there were, as I
have before said, several other black seamen en-
gaged, who had been mostly recaptured slaves,
and had afterwards entered on board men-of-war
or merchant vessels touching at Sierra Leone. I
was struck with the manner of one of them, a fine
active man, as I, now the only representative
of the ‘Chieftain’s’ officers and crew, stood near
the gangway to receive them. Touching his hat