44 A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO. 
cordial; and after the meal was over, and the cigars and 
wine were placed on the table, we would erow so interested 
in discussions as to the relative merits of f the governments, 
- the journals, and the theatres of our respective lands, that 
in our conversation we were completely transported back 
to Europe. So much so, that when we bade each other 
sood-night, it gave quite a revulsion to our thoughts to 
leave the brightly-lighted dining-room, the laughing faces 
and the eager talk, and walk off to one’s bedroom through 
the warm and scented African night, where the Southern 
Cross rose above that great rushing river, and where the 
deep silence was only broken at times by the , of a 
night-bird or the yelp of a distant dog. 
