§ DR. BOWRINGhad another question to put to the noble Lord. A boat's crew, belonging to the Highflyer, was reported to be lately abandoned by that ship on an island near the coast of Abyssinia; it was said that four persons were left there, among whom was a young man in the service of the Peninsular and Oriental Company; their fate was unknown. There was some suspicion that the boat in which they were had been lost; but, on the other hand, there was some reason to believe they had been captured by some of the savage tribes in that neighbourhood, and conducted into the interior of Africa. No doubt the noble Lord had taken all proper steps; but it would be satisfactory to the families of these unfortunate persons, as well as to the public, to be assured by him that such was the fact. He begged to ask what had been done?
§ VISCOUNT PALMERSTONhad had the circumstance brought under his notice some little time ago, by a representation from the father of one of the officers of the ship. He gave orders for an inquiry to be made by our Consul General in Egypt, and had received since that time a report from the India House, with a very circumstantial detail of an inquiry made by order of the political agent at Aden, who sent an expedition to investigate the transaction on the spot. They examined minutely the island where the parties were landed, and several adjacent islands, and they were satisfied that the boat's crew had not been taken prisoners, but that there was every reason to fear that, having started from the island, they had been driven out to sea by a gale of wind, the boat had foundered, and they were lost at sea.