Should you not be satisfied with the Compensation we offer, you will proceed the voyage and we will give you as much as any Master has out of this port on Such a voyage-- Wishing you a pleasant voyage and Safe return We are yours with respects Bixby Valentine & C^{o} Humphrey & Clark _Elijah Cobb to his Wife_ Prince’s Island 4^{th} Feb. 1819 My Dear Freind We are here; & all well, _thanks to the controler of every event_, but under circomstances, must remain here two months longer, as we have a considerable part of our cargo still on hand, business is astonishingly altered since last voyage, the coast is crouded with vessells & goods of every discription, & the natives have nothing to buy with. This circomstance is owing to the late interior war, which has recently raged with great violence & prevented the natives from procuring Gold dust & Ivory as formally.--my object for waiting is to git clear of the Perishable part of my cargo for coffee, when their Crop comes in, which is now commin[c]ing but will not be at its height untill the last of March _or_ first april--I also calculate to touch at one of the windward W. India Islands (on my passage home) in order to s[ell][10] my Tobacco, Flour, Tea, & salmon; which I cannot sell here for an[y thin]g[10]--& some Corn, which I shall receive here in barter, so [that][10] you need not be antious if we dont git home untill [the la]st[10] of July. we may sooner, but I think it douptfull;--What I have sold of the cargo, has been at about as good profit as last voyage, the deficulty is not so much in the price, as in finding people able to purchase, Scarcity of produce is the great complaint. This comes by Esq. Clark, via the W. Indies, he will sail to morrow; Cap^{t} Nickerson is very sick on shore, he will leave him to come with us if he git well, but I have hardly a hope, he is _however_ in the hands of a mercifull God, may his will be done, & the submission of the creture sincier…. I expect our people will all write to their freinds, another oppertunity will offer in about 15 or 20 days direct for Boston. I will then write again. [Sidenote: Hard Times] Pars love to all his children, he earnestly pray that his life may be spared, & he permitted, once more to greet his little flock in health & hapiness. Docter will have all the perticulars respecting the Schooners Voyage by the Esq: it is consequently unnecesary for me to write--. They have not managed matters quite to my mind, but so it is, & prehaps for the best. Love & respects to all freinds Your Affectionate Freind Elijah Cobb