20 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXXVIII. 
but which, forwarded on the 8th of August, together 
with the news of Mr. Overweg's successful naviga- 
tion, produced a great deal of satisfaction in Europe. 
Together with the letters and sundry Maltese port- 
folios, I had also the pleasure of receiving several 
numbers of the " AthenaBum," probably the first 
which were introduced into Central Africa, and which 
gave me great delight. 
Altogether our situation in the country was not 
so bad. We were on the best and most friendly 
terms with the rulers : we were not only tolerated, 
but even respected by the natives, and we saw an 
immense field of interesting and useful labour open to 
us. There was only one disagreeable circumstance 
besides the peculiar nature of the climate ; this was 
the fact that our means were too small to render us 
quite independent of the sheikh and his vizier ; for 
the scanty supplies which had reached us were not 
sufficient to provide for our wants, and were soon 
gone. We were scarcely able to keep ourselves afloat 
on our credit, and to supply our most necessary wants. 
Mr. Overweg, besides receiving a very handsome 
horse from them, had also been obliged to accept at 
their hands a number of tobes, which he had made 
presents of to the chiefs of the Budduma, and they 
looked upon him as almost in their employment. 
He lost a great deal of his time in repairing, or 
rather trying to repair, their watches and other 
things. Such services I had declined from the be- 
ginning, and was therefore regarded as less useful ; 
