IX.] 



SAD NEWS. 



123 



The first part of the sale consisted of household utensils, ket- 

 tles, coffee-pots, bedding, and a small quantity of trading stores ; 

 and the auctioneers carried each article round the assemblao;e, 

 gesticulating violently, and insisting that it was the best thing 

 of its sort that had ever been brought to Unyanyembe, and 

 asking each and every one what amount he would bid for it. 

 After two or three rounds, the article was knocked down to the 

 highest bidder, whose name, and the price given, were entered 

 in the inventory, which had been previously prepared. 



The second part was devoted to the sale of slaves. They 

 were led round, made to show their teeth, to cough, run, and 

 lift weights, and in some instances to ex- 

 hibit their dexterity in handling a musket. 

 All these slaves were semi-domestic, and 

 fetched high prices ; one woman, who was 

 reputed a good cook, going for two hun- 

 dred dollars, and many of the men reached 

 eighty dollars, while in no instance was the 

 price under forty. 



A sad and eventful day now arrived. It 

 was on the 20th of October, as I lay on 

 my bed prostrate, listless, and enfeebled 

 from repeated attacks of fever ; my mind 

 dazed and confused with whirling thoughts 

 and fancies of home and those dear ones 

 far away, that my servant, Mohammed 

 Malim, came running into my tent witli a 

 letter in his hand. I snatched it from him, asking at the same 

 moment where it came from. His only reply was, " Some man 

 bring him." Tearing it open, I found Jacob Wainwright's let- 

 ter — a fac-simile of which is here given. 



Being half blind, it was with some difficulty that I deci- 

 phered the writing, and then, failing to attach any definite 

 meaning to it, I went to Dillon. His brain was in much the 

 same state of confusion from fever as mine, and we read it 

 again together, each having the same vague idea — " Could it be 

 our own father who was dead ?" 



It was not until the bearer of the letter — ^Chuma, Living- 

 stone's faithful follower — was brought to us that we fully com- 



9 



October, 

 1873. 



A GOOD OOOK. PEIOE TWO 

 lltJiNDEED DOLLAEB. 



