X.] A PLEA FOR SLAVERY. 129 



excess of loads ; yet whenever we started on the march, many November, 

 were absent ; and when Bilal was. sent to look after absentees, ^^'^^• 

 and was fortunate enongh to recover half a dozen, twenty more 

 were found to be missing when he returned. 



By this wearying and worrying behavior of the men, I was 

 detained at Itumvi till the 20th of November, when I reduced 

 the number of loads by restowage, and throwing away the pre- 

 served j)rovisions for my own use, and naturally left behind 

 considerably less than had been the case at Mkwemkwe. 



I endeavored to obtain some assistance from the chief of 

 Itumvi, and tried to enlist his sympathies by assuring him that 

 England was the black man's friend, and wished to see all men 

 free, and was doing her utmost to stop the slave-trade on the coast. 



" What, then, are the poor Arabs to do for slaves, if you stop 

 the trade f said he ; and though admitting that slavery was a 

 very bad thing, and saying he never sold a slave, yet he own6d 

 that he sometimes bought one. 



As we were starting from Itumvi, a messenger from Murphy 

 brought the dreadful news of poor Dillon's death on the 18th 

 of November, caused by the terrible effects of African fever. 

 By some unhappy chance, fire-arms had been left within reach ; 

 and in the delirium of fever, and the misery of the complica- 

 tion of diseases under which he was suffering, he had shot him- 

 self in the head. 



And, agonizing though it is to dwell on this subject, I think 

 it only right to point out that none but those who have experi- 

 enced this fever can realize the extraordinary fancies that take 

 possession of the mind. At times I have imagined, although 

 not entirely losing my consciousness, that I had a second head, 

 and that I could not live in this state. The weight has been so 

 great, and the impression so marked, that I have felt tempted 

 to take any means to rid myself of it, but without experiencing 

 the slightest .desire to put an end to my existence. 



The day on which I received this news was the saddest of 

 my life. I had lost one of the best and truest of my old mess 

 mates and friends ; one whose companionship, during the many 

 weary hours of travel and suffering, had helped to cheer, and 

 lessen the difficulties and vexations by which we were so fre- 

 quently beset. 



