The passage of the river being the great desideratum, I proposed a raft to be hauled from side to side with ropes; whilst the Mandingoes were decidedly of opinion that nothing would answer our purpose but a bridge, which they said they would complete by two o'clock. I set to work with the carpenters to make a raft; but when the logs were cut into lengths, we could not muster healthy people enough to carry them to the water side. We were forced to give up the attempt and trust entirely to the Negro bridge, which was constructed in the following manner. A straight pole was cut to sound the depth of the river, and notches made on it to shew the depth at different distances from the shore. Two straight trees were now cut, and their tops fastened strongly together with slips of bark. These were launched across the stream with the assistance of two people, and a rope on the further side; the roots of the trees were firmly fastened with ropes to the roots of the trees on each side of the river. Along the upper side of these trees they planted a range of upright forked sticks, cut correctly to the lengths on the sounding pole. These upright forks supported two other trees tied as the first, but which were not, like the first, permitted to sink into the water, but were kept about a foot above the surface by means of the forks. Another range of forks was placed a little farther up the stream, which likewise supported two trees fastened as the above; the whole was completed with cross sticks. The two trees first laid over, which were permitted to sink in the water, served to prevent the stream from running away with the forks whose roots sloped down the stream; whilst the weight of the current pressed on and kept firm the roots of such as were placed up the stream. A section of the bridge would have the following appearance. [Illustration: A. Trees first laid across. B. First range of forks. C. Trees supported by first range. D. Second range of forks. E. Trees supported by ditto. F. Cross sticks for walking on. If the river was dried up, the structure would have somewhat of this appearance.] Our people being all so sickly, I hired the Negroes to carry over all the baggage, and swim over the asses. Our baggage was laid on the rocks on the East side of the river; but such was our sickly state that we were unable to carry it up the bank. Francis Beedle, one of the soldiers, was evidently dying of the fever; and having in vain attempted, with the assistance of one of his messmates, to carry him over, I was forced to leave him on the West bank; thinking it very probable that he would die in the course of the night.