THE ‘CHIEFTAIN’ LEAVES THE RIVER. 69 skeleton, his countenance pale and haggard, and his strong voice now sounding weak and hollow, and scarcely to be heard by those to whom he issued his orders. I stood by him to repeat them. I saw him cast an eye towards the spot which con- tained the graves of our shipmates, and I could divine his thoughts. Perhaps he might have re- flected that had he not been so greedy of gain, many of them might be still alive, while he him- self might be enjoying health and strength. The mangrove covered shores looked even more sombre and monotonous than before, in the grey light of morning, as we glided down between them. The air was hot and oppressive, and full of pes- tilence, and it seemed a wonder to me that I should have lived so many weeks while breathing such an atmosphere. I dreaded lest the breeze should fail us, and we should be compelled to spend another night under its influence; but the wind held, the = tide was in our favour, and we had nearly reached . the mouth of the river before the wind dropped, and we had to bring up.