70 START FOR THE INTERIOR. Chap. IV. 



half drowned. As to poor Tom, the bath, instead 

 of coohng his courage, made him more violent than 

 ever. He shouted furiously, and as soon as I 

 opened the door of his cage he pounced on the 

 bystanders, clinging to them and screaming. A 

 present of a banana, which he ate voraciously, 

 quieted him down, and the passage was again tried 

 in the afternoon with a better result. 



At length my preparations were completed. 

 Towards the end of September my canoes were 

 loaded, and I had selected the men who were to 

 accomjDany me on my journey. 



On the 28th I crossed the tongue of land which 

 separated my village from the sea-shore, to test my 

 boiling-point thermometers and aneroids at the level 

 of the sea, preparatory to my departure inland. 

 Having finished, and wishing to be alone, I sent 

 back my negro lad with the instruments and took a 

 last solitary walk along the sands. I watched the long 

 waves breaking on the beach, and my mind gradually 

 turned to the other shores in the far north washed 

 by the same sea : I thought of the dear friends I had 

 left there, and a spirit of sadness filled my mind. I 

 thought of the dangers of the undertaking to which 

 I was pledged, and felt that perhaps I might never 

 more return. I believe there was not a friend, or a 

 person from whom I had received a kindness, that I 

 did not call to mind ; and I also thought of those 

 other persons who had tried to do me all the 

 injury in their power, and forgave them from the 

 bottom of my heart. I took a last look at the 



