sketch, especially as I was a party to some of the transactions described.

"The sketch says: 'With the $11,000 in his pocket at the Cape of Good Hope, as above stated, and $7000 more, added by some associates, Captain Cleveland undertook a voyage from China to the northwest coast.' Now, I was one of the associates' who added the $7000, having put in $3000 myself, another friend having advanced the same amount, and the remaining $1000 being furnished by Youqua, a silk merchant of Canton. Captain Cleveland, on his return to Canton, remitted to us, then in the United States, the amount of our investment, which netted us over $12,000. Investing this in his hands, we next heard of him at Copenhagen, in Denmark, where he had left with a banker $20,000 subject to our or der, with profits still in his hands. The latter remained with him as a little capital for further adventure, and was subsequently lost.

"As to his losses of $200,000, I believe they far exceeded that sum, and I have good opportunity of judging. Particulars are unnecessary, but I am unwilling not to add that many years after our concern was considered completely wound up, we met by accident, without the least expectation on my part of receiving any more, at which time, Fortune having jilted us, it was low water with both.

"He volunteered the remark that he had recently very unexpectedly received something from the wreck, and handed me the account minutely and proportionally stated, with his accustomed accuracy, with two hundred and odd dollars. It was at that time a pleasant windfall to both, uncertain which needed it most.

"These things, with my personal acquaintance with the writer of these 'Voyages,' who, through all the hardships of his life, never, I believe, drank any kind of drinkable but water—although that must often at sea have been unpalatable—warrant me in assuring the public that there can be nothing but unvarnished facts in the narrative; and not such stories as are often told by travellers exhibiting more ruffle than shirt. Although he is now, as he says, in an office in the Boston Custom-House-a position which in New York has proved so great a trial of integrity—he will be Richard J. Cleveland, and, rich or poor, will be the same man. I am too isolated to have my name add anything to its authority. Yours truly,

"EBEN. TOWNSEND."

MEETING AN OLD FRIEND.

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My father, who had heard nothing of his old friend for years, and had supposed him dead, was naturally much gratified at having thus unearthed him. It led to a pleasant correspondence and subsequently to a visit from Mr. Townsend, when my father was living with me in Burlington, New Jersey, when the two veterans "fought their battles o'er again" with great gusto.

CHAPTER IV.

From Canton to Calcutta, and thence to the Isle of France.-First Meeting with William Shaler.-From the Isle of France to Copenhagen.-Purchase of the Brig Lelia Byrd, and Preparations for a Voyage Round the World.-The Count de Rouissillon.

HAVING disposed of the cutter and arranged with the purchaser to go in her as passenger, with a cargo of teas, etc., to Calcutta, he writes to his father from Canton, October 19, 1799, as follows:

"As I cannot freight for America from hence, I have let part of the property, say $21,000, on respondentia for Bengal, whither I am bound, and have left $26,000 to be received by a friend here, and remitted to me in Bengal, if it can be done advantageously; if not, to endeavor to freight it in fine goods from hence to America."

The voyage to Calcutta was marked by two escapes from ruin, and in one of them from certain loss of life as well as property, such as no human foresight can guard against, and which are denominated as providential or accidental, according to the faith or the want of it of the narrator.

On the 5th of November, while at anchor close in shore in the narrow strait before coming to Malacca—"We saw a fleet of eleven Malay proas pass by to the eastward, from whose view we supposed ourselves to have been screened by the trees and bushes near which we were lying. On perceiving so great a number of large proas sailing together, we felt convinced they must be pirates, and immediately loaded our guns and pre

NARROW ESCAPES.

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pared for defence; though conscious that the fearful odds between our crew of ten men, and theirs, which probably exceeded a hundred to each vessel, left us scarce a ray of hope of successful resistance.

“We watched their progress, therefore, with that intense interest which men may naturally be supposed to feel, whose fortune, liberty, and life were dependent on the mere chance of their passing by without seeing us. To our great joy they did so, and when the sails of the last of the fleet were no longer visible from our deck, and we realized the certainty of our escape, our feelings of relief were in proportion to the danger that had threatened us.

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'On arriving at Malacca, the curiosity of the people was greatly excited to know how we had escaped the fleet of pirates which had been seen from the town, and when informed they offered us their hearty and reiterated congratulations."

Of their second escape they learned when they took the pilot on board off the mouth of the river, who told them that a large Portuguese ship, then in sight, had been attacked the day before by a French privateer, which she had beaten off. Had they arrived a day sooner, therefore, they would have fallen an easy prey, and being under English colors the property would have been a total loss.

At Calcutta he was again disappointed in his hope of finding an opportunity to freight his property on advantageous terms to the United States, and after residence there of three months he writes the following letter to his father, in which he informs him of his intended departure; but from prudential motives avoids giving him any intimation of the object he had in view:

"Your packet by my friend Mr. Gray came to hand, just as Captain Wheatland was leaving town to join his ship. I think I acknowledged the receipt of it, but have no recollection what I wrote you.

"I have written you from this place by the Criterion, Mermaid, Samson, and Perseverance, and given you such an account of the property left in China, as well as of the voyage in general, that if I should take it into my head not to return, you will not be at a loss to know how to settle it, and I hope will receive enough to enable you to live with ease for the remainder of your life.

"However, I am under no apprehensions on this head, and doubt not I shall be able to wind up the business to my satisfaction, and return in the course of the year 1801.

"If I had not gone so far in my present undertaking that it would be making too great a sacrifice to relinquish it, I certainly would do so, and take passage with Mr. Gray in the Ulysses, as it is not likely I shall again meet with so agreeable an opportunity. I have seen none of my countrymen in my travels possessing a greater combination of good qualities, and I consider his friendship a valuable acquisition.

"I flatter myself I may fall in with Bill and George before I return to America. Accounts of the tremendous gale at the Cape of Good Hope have reached us, and among the most fortunate of the unfortunate vessels that were caught in it I find is the brig Hannah, Captain Wyman.

"George has in this instance experienced a more disastrous gale, and been witness to a more distressing scene, than perhaps was ever known there; but he has yet more dangers to encounter on our boisterous winter coast. The reflecting on dangers, however, is generally as unpleasant as the experience of them.

"As I leave all my books and papers here, I have thought proper, lest any accident should happen to prevent my getting them again, to enclose you copies of all my accounts of the voyage up to the present time.

"I sent you from hence by the Perseverance, Captain Wheatland, fifty pieces of bandannas in a box marked R. C. This I did fearing lest any accident should prevent your receiving the expected property left in China.

“I leave this to-morrow, and intend returning here again in four or five months, when I shall begin to think of turning my face towards home.

"If I meet with success, and a good opportunity offers at that time