i So through gasa land. 



in the country — his companion — possibly dead, yet, 

 if alive, God alone knows where to seek him ; it 

 takes more than the cheery words of a ditty, or the 

 solace of a soothing pipe of tobacco, to make the 

 traveller feel amiable, much less contented. At my 

 feet lay stretched a child of about three or four 

 years — for it is difficult to tell these juveniles' ages 

 correctly — whom one of my people had found 

 starved and wandering in the woods a week or two 

 before. The little derelict had immediately at- 

 tached himself to me, and seems to dread to be 

 alone with persons of his own colour. With the 

 monkeys and baboons it is exactly the same, a cap- 

 tive animal of these species fears nothing so much 

 as the presence of his confreres who are still free ; 

 thus this black w T aif of the human family scarcely 

 ever permitted me to go out of his sight. At first I 

 was far from flattered by his attention, for the child 

 was suffering from skin disease ; but regular meals, 

 and plenty of food, w T ith constant dressing of his 

 sores with gunpowder and fat, had totally revolu- 

 tionised his system, so that his hide now shines as if 

 he had been polished with a blacking-brush. A 

 feeling of affection or gratitude for what I had done 

 for the little savage caused him this evening to draw 

 closer and closer to me ; at length he fell asleep, 

 with his head — probably inadvertently — resting 

 upon my feet. To remain long in the original 

 position that I had occupied was impossible, for it 



