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224 guarda, mio Amigo," (God preserve you, my friend,) on that of these amiable females, I was obliged to tear myself abruptly from them; and with a heart overcharged with grief and tenderness, I hastened to the boat, which conveyed myself and the few other persons remaining on shore, to the ship, which was then under weigh, and, the breeze freshening, we with difficulty got alongside her, when abreast of Fort Santa Cruz, (near the entrance of the Rio de Janeiro, and just as the Buffalo was saluting that battery. In about an hour afterwards, we cleared the Heads; the same evening (August the 12th 1807,) we lost sight of the coast of Brazil, and proceeded on our course for Europe.