CHAP. XXXVII.--A long holiday--I am wrecked on a key--My rescue by salvors--New Providence--I ship on the SAN PABLO, from St. Thomas's, as sailing master--Her captain and his arrangements--Encounter a transport--Benefit of the small-pox--Mozambique Channel--Take cargo near QUILLIMANE--How we managed to get slaves--Illness of our captain--The small-pox breaks out on our brig--Its fatality 248 CHAP. XXXVIII.--Our captain _longs_ for calomel, and how I get it from a Scotchman--Our captain's last will and testament--We are chased by a British cruiser--How we out-manoevred and crippled her--Death of our captain--Cargo landed and the San Pablo burnt 255 CHAP. XXXIX.--My returns from the voyage $12,000, and how I apply them--A custom-house encounter which loses me LA CONCHITA and my money--I get command of a slaver for AYUDAH--LA ESTRELLA--I consign her to the notorious DA SOUZA or CHA-CHA--His history and mode of life in Africa--His gambling houses and women--I keep aloof from his temptations, and contrive to get my cargo in two months 260 CHAP. XL.--All Africans believe in divinities or powers of various degree, except the Bagers--Iguanas worshipped in Ayudah--Invitation to witness the HUMAN SACRIFICES at the court of DAHOMEY--How they travel to ABOMEY--The King, his court, amazons, style of life, and brutal festivities--Superstitious rights at LAGOS--The JUJU hunts by night for the virgin to be sacrificed--Gree-gree bush--The sacrifice--African priest and kingcraft 265 CHAP. XLI.--My voyage home in the ESTRELLA--A REVOLT OF THE SLAVES during a squall, and how we were obliged to suppress it--Use of pistols and hot water 272 CHAP. XLII.--Smallpox and a _necessary murder_--Bad luck every where--A chase and a narrow escape 276 CHAP. XLIII.--The AGUILA DE ORO, a Chesapeake clipper--my race with the Montesquieu--I enter the river Salum to trade for slaves--I am threatened, then arrested, and my clipper seized by French man-of-war's men--Inexplicable mystery--We are imprisoned at GOREE--Transferred to San Louis on the Senegal--The Frenchmen appropriate my schooner without condemnation--How they used her The sisters of charity in our prison--The trial scene in court, and our sentence--Friends attempt to facilitate my escape, but our plans detected--I am transferred to a guard-ship in the stream--New projects for my escape--A jolly party and the nick of time, but the captain spoils the sport 280 CHAP. XLIV.--I am sent to France in the frigate FLORA--Sisters of charity--The prison of Brest--My prison companions--Prison mysteries--CORPORAL BLON--I apply to the Spanish minister--Transfer to the civil prison 286