The ship was consigned to an English firm--Messrs. Gleg and Robarts--who rendered us every assistance in their power.  Mr Robarts was on the point of starting in a fast-sailing schooner on a trip along the coast to the northward and west, as far as the mouth of the mighty river Amazon.  He invited Gerard and me, with Mr McRitchie, to accompany him--not the last excursion of the sort we were destined to make.  As he undertook to be back before the ship could be ready for sea, the captain, glad that we should see as much of the country as possible, allowed us to go.  I was amused at hearing the doctor charge the crew not to fall sick, or tumble down and break their arms or legs, till his return, at the risk of his high displeasure.  The schooner--the _Andorinha_--was built and manned by Portuguese, or rather Brazilians and blacks.  She was a very pretty little vessel, and a first-rate sea-boat; indeed, the Portuguese models of vessels often used to put to shame the crafts of the same class built in England.  However, of late years we have made a great stride in that respect.  I speak of the Portuguese, because the Brazils, it must be remembered, was colonised from Portugal, and the greater part of the white inhabitants--if they can be called white by courtesy--are of that nation originally.  I am sorry to say that I lost my notes made on this trip, so that I am unable to describe it with the minuteness of the rest of my narrative.