1872.] A LONG SUSTAINED HOPE. 199 



and birds serves a good purpose whilst waiting wearily 

 and listening to disputed rumours concerning the Zanzibar 

 porters. The little orphan birds seem to get on somehow 

 or other ; perhaps the Englishman's eye was no bad pro- 

 tection, and his pity towards the fledglings was a good 

 lesson, we will hope, to the children around the Tembe at 

 Kwihara — ] 



19th June. — Whydahs, though full fledged, still gladl) r 

 take a feed from their dam, putting down the breast to the 

 ground and cocking up the bill and chirruping in the 

 most engaging manner and winning way they know. 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 to- 

 gether 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. 



[How fully he hoped to reach the hill from which he 

 supposed the Nile to flow is shown in the following words 

 written at this time : — ] 



I trust in Providence still to help me. I know the four 

 rivers Zambesi, Kafue, Luapula, and Lomame, their foun- 

 tains must exist in one region. 



An influential Muganda is dead of dysentery : no medi- 

 cine had any effect in stopping the progress of the disease. 



