12 



CENSURED FROM HOME. 



branch of the Indian Government. This c med- 

 dling in politics ' was c viewed with displeasure 

 by Government/ and reminded me of the old 

 saying— 



' Wha mells wi' what anither does, 

 May e'en gang hame and shoe his goose.' 



The result was a c wig ■ received in the heart 

 of Africa, and — curious coincidence ! — accom- 

 panying that sheet of foolscap was a newspaper 

 containing news of the Jeddah massacre (June 

 15, 1858), and of our farcical revenge for the 

 deaths of Messrs Page, Eveillard, and some four- 

 teen souls, nearly the whole Christian colony. 1 

 It need hardly be mentioned that this catastrophe 

 showed the way to others, especially to the three 

 days 6 Tausheh ' of Damascus in 1860. 



Fortune had now worked her little worst. 

 We had a pleasant passage to Bombay (Nov. 

 23, 1856), where affairs assumed a brighter as- 

 pect, as we began preparing for the long explor- 

 ation. Lord Elphinstone, after an especial re- 

 quisition, allowed Lieut. Speke to accompany me. 

 He also kindly ordered the Hon. East India 

 Company's sloop of war Elphinstone, Captain 



1 I could not resist the temptation of printing ' wig' and 

 newspaper paragraph side by side in the Appendix (ii. 428) to 

 my ' Lake Regions of Central Africa.' 



