my informant, Mr. Archibald Blacklock, one of the assistant surgeons of
the Asia, left the deck, and on passing through the cock-pit, observed
a midshipman in the larboard birth, sitting at a table, and very
quietly smoking a cigar. The sight surprised him, and on discovering
that the smoker was his friend Clapperton, he could not help marvelling
at his seeming apathy. The other, however, was quite cool, and stated,
‘that he was only a supernumerary; that no particular station had been
assigned to him; and that if the ship blew up, as seemed very likely,
it was of little consequence where he was.’ But the seat of the fire
was fortunately discovered, and the flames subdued with admirable order
and presence of mind, which are never more apparent than in ships of
war during moments of danger; and on the first of February, the Asia
and Superb weighed their anchors and stood out to sea.”—_Sketches from
Nature_, p. 330.]
[Footnote 11: Lander, along with his brother, has lately gone on an
exploratory expedition to the interior of Africa.]
Transcriber's note:
The change indicated in the ERRATUM has been made.
pg 92 Changed: September 1, 1829 to: 1821
pg 107 Changed: and flutes.” to: and flutes.
pg 141 Changed: to 75° 68° among to: to 75°-68°
pg 143 Changed: had accompained him to: accompanied
Minor changes in punctuation have been done silently.
Other spelling inconsistencies have been left unchanged.