258 



THE I EVER. 



sleeplessness yet more terrible. Our minds were 

 morbidly fixed upon one point, the arrival of our 

 vessel : we had no other occupation but to rise 

 and gaze, and to exchange regrets as a sail hove 

 in sight, drew near, and passed by. We knew 

 that there would be no failure on the part of our 

 thoughtful friend, who had written to promise 

 us a ' Batela ' on March 1. But we doubted the 

 possibility of an Arab or an Msawahili doing any- 

 thing in proper time. The craft had been duly 

 despatched from Zanzibar before the end of Eeb- 

 ruary, but the fellows who manned her being 

 men of Tumbatu, could not pass their houses un- 

 visited, — they wasted a precious week, and 

 they did not make Panga-ni till the evening of 

 March 5. 



After sundry bitter disappointments, we had 

 actually hired a Banyan's boat that had newly 

 arrived, when the long-expected ' Batela ' ran 

 into the river. Not a moment was to be lost. 

 Said bin Salim, who had been a kind of nurse, 

 superintended the embarkation of our belong- 

 ings. My companion, less severely treated, was 

 able to walk to the shore ; but I — alas, for man- 

 liness ! — was obliged to be supported like a bed- 

 ridden old woman. The Arabs were civil, and 

 l)ade us a friendly farewell. The Wasawahili, 



