15 ■ 
EXTRACTS. 
From JUNE, 1863, to APRIL, 1865. 
♦ 
“BRITISH CONSULATE, 
“ Khaetoum, 
2Wi, 1863 . 
Sister dear, 
I thouglit that it would be with joyous feeliugs I should 
again write to you from our home, but, alas ! I am very ill j fever 
has kept me in bed now a week from the time of our arrival. We 
were both so ill when the Kathleen ^ reached Khartoum that we 
were unable to land until the following day. No letters were here 
for us ; and we have too much reason to fear that you still believe 
us no more. Your touching letter of inquiry to Madame Peney 
respecting us, which she brought to me, confirms this belief. 
All credits having been stopped, our home is a wreck, and I 
have seen but a trifling part of the ruin around us. Petherick 
has once been out, and it was then to visit the Governor, Moussa 
Pasha, officially. 
111 as I have been, my thoughts were diverted from our troubles 
by a little home incident. Confined as I was to bed, I noticed that 
a pair of martins, or swift swallows, had built a nest, attached to 
the heavy beams which supported the roof of my chamber. The 
ways of these little birds were an attraction irresistible to me. The 
parent birds were constantly flying to and fro through the windows', 
