EXTRACTS FROM DR. KIRK S LETTERS. 7 



other Johanna boys. It seems that being behmd at 

 the time, and concealed by the bush, they were not 

 seen by the Mavite. However this may be, they say 

 they were not pursued to a distance, but lay concealed, 

 and towards evening came up cautiously to see if the 

 loads still remained where they had cast them down. 

 Finding none, they advanced, and saw Dr. Living- 

 stone's body where Moosa had seen him fall, the upper 

 clothing stripped and carried off, as were also his gun 

 and everything he carried. Near him were several 

 of the African boys dead, and in front lay two Mavite. 

 Having baried the body of their leader, they left the 

 spot, and after a time recrossed the lake at Kam- 

 poonda (or Mapoonda), but so confused is their story 

 that it is impossible to indicate their path to Keelwa 

 further than that it lay north of that by which they 

 went. 



(Signed) " Kirk." 



Extracts from a Letter of Dr. Kirk to Sir Roderick Murchison, 



9ih December^ 1866. 



"1. Although the evidence is in many points contra- 

 dictory in detail, and the survivors can give no clear 

 account of their route, I find no cause to doubt their 

 veracity in the main points of the narrative, and allow 

 for much from the fact that an early flight alone saved 

 them, an act of cowardice which would lead them in a 

 measure to exaggerate some of the circumstances. 

 One great difficulty is that they speak the language of 



