Wishing to see something of the Country a little inland Col^l.. M. & I accompanied by Captain Clea[v]eland left the ship with the intention of making a little excursion. Captain Pritchard went with us on shore, but express'd no wish to go with us till he saw us setting off. [H]e then proposed that Cap^tn.. C. should remain to go with him, when they should find horses; by this means tho' a Sailor, wishing to Jockey us out of Cap^tn.. C's company; indeed he had always taken the greatest pains to assure us that he was a first rate horseman, which came soon to be tried, for he succeeded in procuring a horse; but at that unfortunate moment he forgot his [???] in this boasted profession, and acting as most sailors would do, set off with his ponderous load on a weak half famish'd beast, at full speed -- by his account the poor horse got sick when he was not much above a mile out of The Town, here the order of things became completely reversed, for he was obliged after treating his horse to wine, & every thing that he could think of to recover his exhausted strength, to support & almost carry him back to the Town. In the mean time Col^l.. M. Cap^tn.. C. & I got ourselves pack'd into a small & most antique sort of carriage, exactly like Giles Blas which he went in to take possession of his country house; it was drawn by two mules and we had for a driver a monkey looking black man, who could not speak a word of English, & we were equally ignorant of Portuguese; he set off apparently in good humour enough, but he had no sooner got us into a Street where no English person was to be seen, then he came to a full stop, & began chattering Portuguese evidently in great wrath, we soon had a mob about us to whom he address'd himself occasionally, we did not understand a word; & there we sat in the most hopeless state imagineable; to be sure I then thought what with the opposition from Cap^tn. P. before, and altogether that the fates were against us, & that I should be disappointed in my ride. [T]he Gentlemen becoming tired of being stuck up as if in a show box in the middle of the street for the amusement of the rabble, began to threaten M^r. Post Boy in their turn, he seem'd more enraged than ever, but at last proceeded. [W]e imagine that he objected to carrying three persons, two being the usual number for those sort of carriages. After this detention we got on very well, the road was extremely good, and the Country very beautiful. [W]e went to see a house which was preparing for the reception of the Prince four miles from S^t. Sebastian in the most beautiful situation; this Palace (as it is call'd), is built in a very pretty style neat, Plain, & by no means on a great scale; which indeed would ill suit the circumstances of the Royal family at this time. [A]fter spending some time at this place, we return'd to S^t.. Sebastian & on enquiring for Cap^tn.. P. who we had been expecting to see all the time, we were surprised to hear that he had gone to meet us, & had not yet return'd -- in about half an hour he made his appearance very much fatigued with the exertion of conducting his horse to his Stable. ----

We had the pleasure of dining with Admiral & M^rs.. de Courcy at their house in a part of the harbour which we had not been in before, it is a very retired situation, shut in by a number of small wooded Islands; the house is quite on the waters edge, so close, that you step from the Boat on the stair which conducts you into the house. [H]ere we were entertain'd in the kindest manner imagineable, without any ostentation or parade; the Admiral & M^rs.. de C. appear, very good sort of people of kind unaffected manner, he gave me much good advice on economy, and said that he thought nothing could be more absurd than people going abroad to live in a style which their circumstances could hardly admit of, when it was to be suposed they would not have quitted their own dear Country if their fortunes had been such as to admit of their living there in comfort. ---[A]t the Admiral[']s house we met several naval people and among others Captain Hancock, to whom I took a great liking from a stricking [sic] resemblance which he has to Colonel Macquarie. ---We became acquainted with a number of pleasant men of the navy at Rio, among whom I must not forget Captain Schomberg who is one of the most gentlemanny [sic] pleasant man I ever saw. ---Two days before we left Rio we went in the evening to take leave of the Admiral[']s family, it was very fine weather and the row on the water was delightful. [T]he day before we sail'd we took one of the Carriages of the place & went to take leave of Sir James and Lady Gambier, the approach to their house (which is call'd Bolto Togo), is one of the grandest things I ever saw; within a quarter of a mile the road comes down on the Beach, when the Sugar loaf & other fine Pointed rocks burst on the veiw [sic] at once, with the milder beauties of the foreground; in which the house is situated. [C]ertainly this is one of the most beautiful places I ever saw, but seemingly very unhealthy; there is a grove of orange trees under the house, this sounds very fine, & appears very beautiful, but the scent is so strong, that it is quite overpowering, & to my taste a grove of Birch would be ten times more preferable, & that I hope to possess in front of our house in the Isle of Mull. ----

The object of our going to Rio was fully obtain'd, as soon as the state of the sick was made known by Colonel Macquarie to Admiral de Courcy, as as many as they could find room for were admitted to the Hospital, & the others were accommodated in a vessel appropriated solely to thier [sic] use; they were treated with the greatest care & humanity by Doctor Roddam, & were recovering; but the time necessary for a perfect cure was more than the Service would admit of, in detaining us so long; on the 21^st.. Col^l.. M. went to the Hospital and left it to the choice of those persons who were still extremely ill, either to remain till their recovery, & then follow the Reg^t..; or to reembark as they were, the poor Fellows answer'd by a shout of joy, that they were ready to embark; their great terror being that of remaining behind the Reg^t.. ---In one of Col^l.. M's visits to the hospital I attended him, I believe rather against his inclination; it was highly gratifying to see such extreme good accommodation for the Sick, the Hospital had formerly been the house of a nobleman, was situated in a beautiful Island commanding fine air, and an extensive I need not add beautiful view of the harbour; the lower appartments [sic] were spacious, & fitted up in the neatest manner for the Sick, who lay I may say on the edge of the water, with the view before them, in the upper part of the house, there is a noble Hall for the Surgeons -- the Sick have the advantage of walking about the Island as soon as they are able with perfect freedom, the Island being appropriated exclusively to their use -- during our stay the ships were amply provided with vegitables, [sic] & beef; the first were excellent, the latter extremely bad, indeed there is no such thing to be had at Rio as good Butcher meat of any sort; the oranges were the finest I ever eat, the Seamen & Soldiers were also supplied with them; and we understood that this last donation was a present from the Prince. ----

The weather during our stay at Rio was variable, we had a tremendous thunder storm, attended with excessive heavy rain; I awoke in the middle of the night & was so extremely terrified with the uncommon loud thunder, & wind lightning that I had not courage to move tho' the rain pour'd in upon me, at last my anxiety to know whether Colonel Macquarie was safe, induced me to awake him, for such had been the sound sleep he was in, that he had not heard the thunder. ---[W]e were told that the water at S^t. Sebastian was very bad, unwholesome, & that it would not keep at Sea; but we did not find it so. ---The Magicienne Frigate, which we left at Madeira, arrived in the Harbour a few days after we did[.] --- Col^l.. M. made an application for a transport to carry his Sick men to the Cape of [G]ood Hope, in the expectation of preventing the infection to those men in the Hindostan, who had not been seized with it, but the Admiral said that he could not furnish one, on which it was mentioned to him that, as next best, Col^l.. M. would like to send from fifty to a hundred who were perfectly well, on board the Magicienne so as to make room in the Hindostan for the better accommodation of the Sick. The Admiral express'd himself as most willing to give an order to that effect, but Col^l.. M. finding that Cap^tn.. Curtis was entirely averse to taking his men said, that he would not on any account send his people on board of a Ship of war, that being the case, not knowing what treatment they might meet with -- I must confess that this inhuman conduct on the part of Cap^tn.. C., in addition to the loss of the Sailors on the fourth of June, disgusted me so much, that I could not speak to him with common civility; tho' on all occasions he had been very civil to me. ----

One of the Ships officers, M^r. Worthington, had his gold watch &c. taken out of his cabin at night; on the seventeenth Col^l.. M. was inform'd that two soldiers (Edward Jordon, & John Shelly) were suspected as guilty of the theft; he immediately order'd them to be confined on the Poop, as it was too late to have an examination of their effects that night; it being extremely dark, & torrents of rain falling, they contriv'd to make their escape in the Jolly Boat, unobserved by the Centry [sic]; the Boat was brought back by two of the natives next day. ---I much fear these men will be found, & if they are; they will be sent after us; and as their offence has been great, the punishment must be in proportion, which will be unpleasant; but Col^l.. M. wishes they may be found, as their succeeding in deserting is a bad example to others. [O]n the whole I believe it would be almost impossible to find a more orderly or better behaved set of men, but among so many it would be too much to expect them all to be good. ----

6-7 August 1809 | 23 August - 23 September 1809

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