Page:A voyage to Abyssinia (Salt).djvu/21

 CHAPTER I.

ON Friday the 20th of January 1809, having taken charge of some presents prepared for the occasion, and a letter from his Majesty the King of Great Britain, addressed to the Emperor of Abyssinia, I embarked at Portsmouth, on board the Marian, a merchant vessel, commanded by Captain Thomas Weatherhead, and on the 23d we set sail on our destination, in company with an East India fleet, under convoy of his Majesty's ship Clorinde. We had scarcely got out of the harbour, before we encountered a sudden gale from the north-west, which, in the course of the ensuing day, came round to the south-west, and compelled us to lie-to. Under these circumstances we continued beating against tremendous gales, and a heavy sea for four days, until the 27th, when,