In Search of an Unknown Race — page 249: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

VAN. 235 With a very thankful heart, after a couple of hours’ much needed sleep, Van relieved his dusky lieutenant at the wheel, and at the same time took one of his own watch with him, to learn the mysteries of the compass. There were days of comparative calm, and blowy days ; there were drenching showers and chilling fogs, thunder tempests and sudden squalls, head winds and fair breezes. But no heavy gales were encountered, The crew grew quite expert, and Van himself picked up a good deal of the native dialect to add to his lingual accomplishments, as the days lengthened into weeks. But as it drew near the time when the headlands of the Golden Gate might begin to be watched for, Van began to feel decidedly nervous. How would his crew act when they discovered the deception that had been practiced, and found that instead of their native shores, they had reached the haunts of civilization? And finally Van resolved to take the Kroo, who had become very strongly attached to him, into his confidence. Watching his opportunity, Van called the Kroo down into the cabin for a ‘‘ palaver,” for the two had not only grown better acquainted with each other, but with each other’s peculiarity of speech. Now some of the Rattler’s original cargo had been disposed of by her captors, either by exchange or sale— it was never known which. But in a small store room at the stern were a couple of boxes of merchandise in- tended specially for barter with the Indians of the Lower Amazon. Knives and hatchets, glass vases, gilt orna- ments, beads, fish hooks, cheap firearms, and a hundred similar articles were included in the assortment. EOmMmiIiGcdoo “S (E(0) im