N A R R A T I V E .
CHAPTER I.
Arrival of the Governor at Funchal.—The Proceedings of the Neio
Poioers.— Departure from Madeira.—Teneriffe.— Arrival at
Bona Vista,—Senhor Martins’ Home.—Governor and Family.
—Society.—Manners.—Prisoners from St. Jago.—Going to
Mass.—Arrival of Despatches from Lisbon.—St. Antonio.—
Departure for the River Gambia.—Character of the Oioner of
the Schooner.—St. Jago.—Arrival at Bathurst.—Mr. Bowdich’s
Illness and Death.
I FEEL so great a repugnance to appear before the public, and
so great a distaste to those subjects in which I have lost my guide
and instructor, that the present narrative will labour under many
disadvantages, besides those which may arise from incapability.
It is but justice, however, to those who felt interested for
Mr. Bowdich in his public character, without any dearer tie of
friendship, and to those who make the cause of science their own,
to relate the circumstances of his last voyage, with their fatal
result.
I particularly lament, that, contrary to his usual custom, his
notes were very few, and those so obscurely written, that even I,