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34 African Memoranda. ] 7*)2. civilized people, and by the laws of nations, he was bound to May 6. relieve us, and that relief could only be administered in supply ing us with fresh provisions; that if a ship of his nation, under similar circumstances, was to put into any English port, they would receive what they wanted by paying for it, and that was all I asked, subject to any restrictions he thought proper with respect to the mode of communication ; as to the pilots, I would certainly carry them back if he chose. The Spanish governor still persisting in his refusal, I told him that it was immaterial* to me whether I spent the next six months on the island of Grand Canaria, or on the coast of Africa, and most likely it would be on the former, for go from the island I certainly would not, unless carried off by force, till my boat was loaded with refreshments for the women, and that he would have to answer for the consequence. Here all argument ceased, and I sat down upon the beach near my boat. At three o’clock the governor assented to my having what ever I wanted, and my little boat was loaded with fresh meat, vegetables, fruit, bread, milk, chocolate, and milch goats, which were put down on the beach, and the prices declared by the interpreter ; the party then retired, and my sailors took the things up and placed them in the boat; the money I put into a basin of vinegar and retired; the interpreter then took it out, and gave it to the proper person, so that in no one time was I ever nearer to any of the natives than five or six yards. During, ^his time one of the pilots had slipped away unperceived, and could not be found, so that I carried back only two of them, and reached the ship again about an hour after dark. It was certainly an uncommon spectacle to see an unarmed foreigner, in a little boat which two men could carry, six or