NIANGARA 289 



I said : " Baturi ya 7nutu " (" The white man is dead "), and 

 the silence was only broken by the sobs of the httle boy. 



The news of his death was heard in sorrow by all, and 

 deeply moved Commandant Sarolea and Dr. Cammermeyer 

 who had done all in his power to save his patient, but the 

 case was hopeless from the first. 



Work was stopped for the day and in the afternoon the 

 body was borne with full military honours to the grave in 

 the resting-place under the shade of palm-trees, where twelve 

 other white men sleep. 



The escort, numbering eighty men, was drawn up in 

 line in front of the house, and as the coffin was carried out a 

 volley was fired. The band of bugles and drums, playing a 

 slow march, preceded the body to the grave. On each flank 

 came the escort in single file. Then followed Commandant 

 Sarolea with myself, then the other officers of the station, 

 and the rear was brought up by the personnel of the 

 Expedition. As the coffin was lowered another volley was 

 fired, and each white man in turn dropped a spadeful of 

 earth into the grave. Turning to me the commandant 

 expressed his sorrow in a few eloquent words ; then the 

 escort marched away and the band played lively music. 



I had a simple headstone of whitened bricks, about 3 ft. 

 high, placed over the grave for the wooden cross to res bin, and 

 a low brick wall built round, and within I planted some bright 

 flowers from the garden of the Commandant. The inscription 

 on the cross was burnt in so that the weather will not eSace it. 

 I think the grave looks brighter than the heavy sarcophagi 

 of bricks that mark the other graves in the cemetery. 



Tragic is the only word that can be appHed to the circum- 



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