TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 
133 
enabled to do, after much toil and trouble, by 
the 17th of July. 
Our position was on an elevated plain, lying 
about half a quarter of a mile west of the village, 
between us and which ran a copious stream of 
water, occasionally swollen to a considerable size 
by the rains. Around a clear spot, of about two 
acres, we erected several huts. We soon found, 
however, they were neither sufficiently solid 
to withstand the violence of the tornados, nor 
well enough thatched to keep out the rain, in 
consequence of which the men were continually 
getting wet, and falling sick- Mr. Burton and 
Mr. Nelson, and nearly all the Europeans, were 
labouring under fever and dysentery. On the 
18th, the former was reduced to the very last 
stage, and Mr. Pilkington, and three men, were 
so ill when we left Boolibany, that they could not 
be moved. Had we been able to continue our 
journey to the east, those officers and men must 
have been left behind ; and to this, unpleasant 
as it might have been to our feelings, we must in 
that case have submitted. Mr. Burton's suffer- 
ings, however, were of short duration ; he died 
on the 19th, having been only a few days ill. 
This sudden and melancholy event appeared to 
cast a gloom over all, and, when his remains 
were committed to their last abode, every Euro- 
pean present shewed evident symptoms of ap- 
