George Scott is also in good
health and spirits. I wrote to you from St. Jago, which letter I hope you
received. We left that place on the 21st of March, and arrived here with
the asses on the 28th. Almost every soldier in the garrison volunteered
to go with me; and, with the Governor's assistance, I have chosen a guard
of the best men in the place. So lightly do the people here think of the
danger attending the undertaking, that I have been under the necessity of
refusing several military and naval officers who volunteered to accompany
me. We shall sail for Gambia on Friday or Saturday, I am happy to learn
that Karfa, my old friend, is at present at Jonkakonda; and I am in hopes
we shall be able to hire him to go with us.
"We have as yet been extremely fortunate, and have got our business, both
at St. Jago and this place, finished with great success; and I have
hopes, almost to certainty, that Providence will so dispose the tempers
and passions of the inhabitants of this quarter of the world, that we
shall be enabled to _slide through_ much more smoothly than you expect.
"I need not tell you how often I think about you; your own feelings will
enable you to judge of that. The hopes of spending the remainder of my
life with my wife and children, will make everything seem easy; and you
may be sure I will not rashly risk my life, when I know that your
happiness, and the welfare of my young ones, depend so much upon it. I
hope my mother does not torment herself with unnecessary tears about me.
I sometimes fancy how you and she will be meeting misfortune half-way,
and placing me in many distressing situations. I have as yet experienced
nothing but success, and I hope that six months more will end the whole
as I wish.
"_P.S._ - We have taken a ride this morning about twelve miles into the
country. Alexander is much pleased with it. The heat is moderate, and the
country healthy at present."
In a letter to the Colonial Office, written at the same time as the
above, he gives the following account of his departure from Goree: - "On
the morning of the 6th of April, we embarked the soldiers, in number
thirty-five men. They jumped into the boat in the highest spirits, and
bade adieu to Goree with repeated huzzas. I believe that every man in the
garrison would have embarked with great cheerfulness; but no inducement
could prevail on a single negro to accompany me. I must therefore trust
to the Gambia for interpreters, and I expect to be able to hire or
purchase three or four in going up the river." On the 9th April they
reached Jillifree on the Gambia, and in a few days got up the river to
Kayee.
