Chap. VII. LETTERS FROM EUROPE. 129 



undertaking at a time when I was thorouglily dis- 

 heartened. The letters of Sir Roderick Murchison 

 and Professor Owen, especially, gave me new life. 

 Amongst the papers which I received, there was a 

 copy of ' The Times' containing an article on the 

 death of Captain Speke. It was the only sorrowful 

 news that came, and I felt sad in reflecting how 

 precarious and uncertain was life. A brave and 

 strong man, who had gone through all the dangers 

 of a march through the interior of Africa, had thus 

 fallen by accident, after his safe return to his home 

 and his family ! 



The parcel contained, besides other papers, numbers 

 of the 'Illustrated London News' and 'Punch.' These 

 were, afterwards, extremely useful to me, as they 

 never failed to give amusement to the negroes of the 

 villages I stayed at, and they were always thought 

 much of by the head men as presents. The un- 

 sophisticated African has a great liking for printed 

 paper and books, especially when they have plenty 

 of engravings. 



After Quengueza's departure the small-pox in- 

 creased its ravages. Not a day passed without its 

 victims, each fresh death being announced by the 1 

 firing of guns, a sound which each time pierced 

 through me with a pang of sorrow. From morning 

 to night, in my solitude, I could hear the cries of 

 wailing, and the mournful songs which were raised 

 by the relatives round the corpses of the dead. The 

 curses of the natives fell thick on me as the author 

 of their misfortunes. To these miseries another one 

 was soon added in the shape of famine. There was 



K 



