CHRISTMAS IN CAMP AT KADDAI 347 



Talbot was to leave the day after Christmas, and for the 

 few days before, I was very busy labelling and packing my 

 collection of the Bornu birds, which now amounted to over 

 eight hundred. He also took with him Gosling's collection 

 of fish. It was a very great comfort to us to feel that under 

 his charge a considerable portion of the results of our work 

 would be certain to reach England, whereas at other times 

 we had to entrust boxes to natives. With them the chances 

 of loss were very great, yet I was most extraordinarily lucky, 

 and every box that I sent off by natives sooner or later 

 turned up safely on the coast. 



The 24th was spent in making preparations for the great 

 day to follow, for we were determined to keep Christmas 

 with as loyal observance as possible. Perhaps the day 

 to us, 4009 miles away, meant more than it can possibly 

 mean at home. I think all travellers in far countries would 

 say the same. For, from old habit, or it may be a call in the 

 blood, the old Christmas scenes come back and the mind 

 returns with yearning to the Christmas days of childhood. 

 Time seems to lose itself in the great distance that lies between 

 the African wild and the kind surroundings of home ; one 

 pictures all going on there just the same as years ago, and 

 faces of lost ones steal back to their place in the circle that 

 has missed them long. So one dreams a moment gladly, 

 but then sad memories return to catch one by the throat. 

 These associations bear upon the mind with so much greater 

 force, because they arise out of thoughts that have long been 

 allowed to sleep ; for the traveller who knows that he must 

 wander through rough regions for years before he will set his 

 face'towards home dare not think long on tender things, or 



