114 MERCY OF PROVIDENCE. 



any of those present ; but those they had mentioned 

 were without a doubt correct, and the evidence of 

 each individual was given in a straightforward way, 

 without promptings from any one. It was stated by 

 some of them that the Englishman was the only 

 one who wore boots ; and one man gave an amus- 

 ing description of the traveller's mosquito curtains, 

 saying " he had with him a house of thin cloth, in- 

 side which he put his bed to keep the roozoos (mos- 

 quitoes) out." All said he had a dog called Chitanee. 

 The name of this village is Parrapoochee or Pam- 

 quala, and it is situated close to the beach in lat. 34^ 

 52' south ; long. 13^ 29 ' east. 



Satisfied with what we had heard, we resolved to 

 sail up to the Arab crossing-place next day, and see 

 what information could be gleaned there. In the 

 evening the fishermen made a good haul, and pre- 

 sented us with some delicious fish, weighing about 

 three quarters of a pound, with as good a flavour as 

 a Dublin-bay herring. As usual, the women came 

 down to inspect us when they saw we were on good 

 terms with their lords and masters. 



It was a beautiful moonlight night, and there was 

 scarce a breath of air to cause a ripple on the then 

 peaceful waters of Nyassa. As I lay on that lovely beach 

 of silver sand enjoying a pipe of good tobacco, and 

 thinking over the mercy bestowed upon our party by 

 Providence that very day, Reid came and sat down 

 beside me. It was soon evident that similar thoughts 

 had been running in his head, for his first words were, 

 in his own broad Scotch, " Eh ! mon, but the Lord 

 was guid to us a' this day!" Long did we sit and en- 



