Page:Twenty years before the mast - Charles Erskine, 1896.djvu/57

 driven about the streets, yoked together with heavy necklaces of iron and urged on by a driver. They are the

SLAVES SLEEPING.

only burden-bearers, and outnumber the whites five to one.

On the 6th of January, all our repairs being finished, we dropped down the harbor. On passing the frigate Independence we were saluted with six rousing cheers,  which were returned with a will. We were favored with fine weather, and the squadron sailed in company. The bleak and lofty mountains fast receded from our view,  and in a short time were swallowed up in the distance. The first part of this month was very pleasant, but we were destined to experience some little change. The morning of the 15th set in cloudy. At five bells it commenced to rain smartly, with all the wind we wanted. The wind soon increased to a gale, and at ten o’clock all hands were called to close-reef topsails. There was a pelting rain, and the drops, as they struck on the backs  of our hands and in our faces, felt like shot.

At daylight on the 25th "Land ho! "was sung out from the mast-head, and at five o’clock we came to anchor in five fathoms of water off Rio Negro, on the coast