the attempt and was drowned, the third and last remaining was Captain Trevithick, who was either unable to swim or could swim very little. In order to improve his chances of safety, he gathered several sticks, which he tied in a bundle and placed under his arms; with these he plunged into the stream; but the contrivance of the bundle of sticks afforded him very doubtful assistance, for the current appeared to seize the sticks and whirl him round and round. He, however, finally reached within two or three yards of the bank in a state of extreme exhaustion. Mr. Gerard going into the water himself and holding the branch of a tree, then threw to his assistance the stem of a water-plant, holding one of the extremities in his own hand. It was not until the fourth time of throwing that Captain Trevithick was able to seize the very extremity of the plant (which was leaf) in his fingers; on the strength of the leaf his life on the occasion was dependent. It was determined to give up any further idea of using a raft on the river, and to continue their journey along the banks of the river. For subsistence for the remainder of their journey they had to depend on the produce of one fowling-piece and a small quantity of gunpowder; after a few days the gunpowder got wet by accident, and in the attempt to dry it, it was lost by explosion. The party finally arrived in a state of great exhaustion at the village, now the considerable port of San Juan de Nicaragua, or Greytown; and shortly after their arrival a small vessel arrived, which conveyed the party to one of the West India islands. "Upon one occasion Captain Trevithick was called upon to act in a novel capacity, that of a surgeon. An accident happened to a native engaged in working an engine erected at a place distant about two hundred miles from Lima, by which accident both of his arms were crushed. There was no medical man within the distance of two hundred miles, and Captain Trevithick, believing that death would ensue if amputation was not immediately performed, offered his services, which were accepted by the patient. The operation, he informed me, was successful; the man rapidly recovered, and showed a pair of stumps which could have hardly been distinguished from the result of an operation by a regular surgeon. It is not improbable that in the warfare in which he had been engaged Captain Trevithick had been present and assisted at amputations of limbs of wounded soldiers. He thus probably acquired sufficient confidence to undertake and perform the operation himself.