1872-73] FROM UNYANYEMBE TO BANGWEOLO. 437 



She still gives them a little, but administers a friendly 

 shove-off too. They all pick up feathers or grass, and 

 hop from side to side of their mates, as if saying, Come, 

 let us play at making little houses. The wagtail has 

 shaken her young quite off, and has a new nest. She 

 warbles prettily, very much like a canary, and is extremely 

 active in catching flies, but eats crumbs of bread-and- 

 milk too. Sun-birds visit the pomegranate flowers, and 

 eat insects therein too, as well as nectar. The young 

 whydah birds crouch closely together at night for heat. 

 They look like a woolly ball on a branch. By day they 

 engage in pairing and coaxing each other. They come to 

 the same twig every night. Like children, they try and 

 lift heavy weights of feathers above their strength. 5 ' 



On 3d July a very sad entry occurs : "Received a note 

 from Oswell, written in April last, containing the sad 

 intelligence of Sir Roderick's departure from among us. 

 Alas ! alas ! this is the only time in my life I ever felt 

 inclined to use the word, and it bespeaks a sore heart ; 

 the best friend I ever had — true, warm, and abiding, — he 

 loved me more than I deserved ; he looks down on me 

 still." This entry indicates extraordinary depth of emo- 

 tion. Sir Roderick exercised a kind of spell on Living- 

 stone. Respect for him was one of the subordinate 

 motives that induced him to undertake this journey. 

 The hope of giving him satisfaction was one of the sub- 

 ordinate rewards to which he looked forward. His death 

 was to Livingstone a kind of scientific widowhood, and 

 must have deprived him of a great spring to exertion in 

 this last wandering. On Sir Roderick's part the affection 

 for him was very great. "Looking back," says his 

 biographer, Professor Geikie, " upon his scientific career 

 when not far from its close, Murchison found no part of 

 it which brought more pleasing recollections than the 

 support he had given to African explorers — Speke, Grant, 

 and notably Livingstone. 'I rejoice/ he said, 'in the 



