1 843-47.] FIRST TWO STATIONS. 83 



With all his other work, he was still enthusiastic in 

 science. " I have written Professor Buckland," he says to 

 Mr. Watt (May 1845), "and sent him specimens too, but 

 have not received any answer. I have a great lot by me 

 now. I don't know whether he received my letter or 

 not. Could you ascertain ? I am trying to procure 

 specimens of the entire geology of this region, and will 

 try and make a sort of chart. I am taking double 

 specimens now, so that if one part is lost, I can send 

 another. The great difficulty is transmission. I sent a 

 dissertation on the decrease of water in Africa. Call on 

 Professor Owen and ask if he wants anything in the 

 four jars I still possess, of either rhinoceros, camelopard, 

 etc. etc. If he wants these, or anything else these jars 

 will hold, he must send me more jars and spirits of wine." 



He afterwards heard of the fate of one of the boxes of 

 specimens he had sent home — that which contained the 

 fossils of Bootchap. It was lost on the railway after 

 reaching England, in custody of a friend. " The thief 

 thought the box contained bullion, no doubt. You may 

 think of one of the faces in Punch as that of the 

 scoundrel, when he found in the box a lot of ' chucky- 

 stanes.'" He had got many nocturnal-feeding animals, 

 but the heat made it very difficult to preserve them. 

 Many valuable seeds he had sent to Calcutta, with the 

 nuts of the desert, but had heard nothing of them. He 

 had lately got knowledge of a root to which the same 

 virtues were attached as to ergot of rye. He tells his 

 friend about the tsetse, the fever, the north wind, and 

 other African notabilia. These and many other interest- 

 ing points of information are followed up by the signifi- 

 cant question — 



" Who will penetrate through Africa 1" 



