The River Was
Now About 300 Yards Broad, And From Four To Five Fathoms Deep.
They met
with no obstruction from the natives, till they came to Eboe, where an
unfortunate quarrel took place, which seems to have arisen from a mere
misunderstanding.
The discharge of a gun had been agreed upon as the
signal from the Alburkah for the Quorra to anchor; which being fired
after dark, before the village, alarmed the natives, who opened a brisk
discharge of musketry from the banks. The voyagers found it necessary to
put a stop to this attack, by the discharge of their great guns, and in
about twenty minutes the musketry from the shore was silenced. At
day-break they made farther reprisals, and in order to terrify the
natives, landed and set fire to the village - an act of barbarity which
appears to have been entirely gratuitous and uncalled for. After they had
passed the scene of this unfortunate rencontre, the river increased in
breadth to one thousand yards; the banks were higher, and the woods were
more frequently diversified with plantations of bananas, plantains and
yams. Soon after they anchored off Eggaboo, to take in a supply of wood;
it was the first town which they had observed built at a short distance
from the river, and not upon its margin. It contained about two hundred
houses, each of which was surrounded with a bamboo fence about nine feet
high. They gratified King Obie by a visit, who gave them various
presents, and also visited the steamers in state, escorted by upwards of
sixty canoes, seven of which were of great size, and were each manned by
crews of seventy men.
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