ten P.M.
The best house in the place this was , by the by , although only a thatched hut ; and here I found his Excellency the Commandant , a little shrivelled insignificant-looking creature . He was about sitting down to his dinner , of which he invited me to partake , and as I was very hungry , I contrived to do justice to the first dish , but my stomach was grievously offended at the second , which seemed to me to be a compound of garlic , brick dust , and train oil , so that I was glad to hurry on board of my canoe , to settle all with a little good Madeira . At four P.m. I proceeded up the river , which is here about a hundred yards across , and very deep ; it rolls sluggishly along through a low swampy country , covered to the water 's edge with thick sedges and underwood , below which the water stagnates , and generates myriads of musquittoes , and other troublesome insects , and sends up whole clouds of noxious vapours , redolent of yellow fever , and ague , and cramps , and all manner of comfortable things . At ten P.M. we anchored by a grapnel in the stream , and I set Peter Mangrove forthwith to officiate in his new capacity of cook , and really he made a deuced good one . I then slung my hammock under the toldo , and lighting a slow match , at the end of it forwards , to smoke away the musquittoes , having previously covered the aftermost end with a mat , I wrapped myself in my cloak , and turned in to take my snooze . We weighed again about two in the morning . As the day dawned the dull grey steamy clouds settled down on us once more , while the rain fell in a regular waterspout .