100 LOSS OF MAIL-BAGS. Chap. IV. 



the Shire to Tette, we ran down the Kongone and beached her 

 for repairs. Her Majesty's ship " Lynx," Lieut. Berkeley 

 commanding, called shortly afterwards with supplies ; the 

 bar, which had been perfectly smooth for some time before, 

 became rather rough just before her arrival, so that it was 

 two or three days before she could communicate with us. 

 Two of her boats tried to come in on the second day, and 

 one of them, mistaking the passage, capsized in the heavy 

 breakers abreast of the island. Mr. Hunt, gunner, the 

 officer in charge of the second boat, behaved nobly, and 

 by his skilful and gallant conduct succeeded in rescuing 

 every one of the first boat's crew. Of course the things 

 that they were bringing to us were lost, but we were 

 thankful that all the men were saved. The loss of the 

 mail-bags, containing Government despatches and our 

 friends' letters for the past year, was felt severely, as we 

 were on the point of starting on an expedition into the 

 interior, which might require eight or nine months ; and 

 twenty months is a weary time to be without news 

 of friends and family. In the repairing of our crazy 

 craft, we received kind and efficient aid from Lieutenant 

 Berkeley, and we were enabled to leave for Tette on 

 December 16th. 



We had now frequent rains, and the river rose con- 

 siderably ; our progress up the stream was distressingly 

 slow, and it was not until the 2nd of February, 1860, that 

 we reached Tette. Mr. Thornton returned on the same 

 day from a geological tour, by which some Portuguese 

 expected that a fabulous silver-mine would be rediscovered. 

 The tradition in the country is, that the Jesuits formerly 

 knew and worked a precious lode at Chicova. Mr. Thorn- 

 ton had gone beyond Zumbo, in company with a trader of 

 colour ; he soon after this left the Zambesi, and, joining 

 the expedition of the Baron van der Decken, explored the 

 snow mountain Kilimanjaro, north-west of Zanzibar. 



