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, as a "negro," but in all probability he was of the same race as the Indian seamen who in this era compose the lascar crews of many of our ocean-going steamers in the East. Such have for ages navigated the Indian ocean, and they no doubt constituted a numerous community at Zanzibar at the end of the sixteenth century as they do to-day.

Whatever his nationality the pilot must have proved of great service to Lancaster. Drake and Cavendish's expeditions had not touched at any part of India, nor had they utilized in their passage from the China Sea to the Atlantic the Straits of Malacca, which now are almost invariably traversed by vessels proceeding to or coming from the Far East. The pilot's local knowledge enabled Lancaster not only to test the value of the great strategic waterway which we command by the possession of Singapore, but, what for him at the time was of more moment, to make personal acquaintance with the natural advantages of Penang.

When the Edward Bonaventure got into the Indian Ocean the old enemy, scurvy, reappeared in an aggravated form. The crew in time was so reduced that it became imperative that a rather prolonged stay should be made in some salubrious locality. After touching at the Nicobar Islands, Lancaster sailed for Penang where he arrived at the beginning of June with his men in the last stages of weakness. The excellent air of the island was a tonic which had its effect on the enfeebled constitutions of many; but Penang then was an uninhabited waste devoid of the fresh food supplies which were so essential to the invalids. Twenty-six of the unfortunates died in a short time, amongst them Mr. Rainold Golding, "a merchant of great honesty