66 
TEAVELS IN CENTEAL AFEICA. 
in a pet^ I said aloud_, I know yon are hidings and I will no longer 
look for you/^ Ey-and-bye again the whistle : no movement on my 
part j and when my husband entered the room^ his first exclamation 
was^ Are you ill?^^ so surprised was he to miss the usual saluta- 
tion; but it proved that Polly was the culprit,, for while we were 
talking, she repeated her song, startling even Petherick, so exact 
was the imitation. 
Of my African home I cannot speak too highly. The climate is 
delicious, and I have not known a day of ill health since leaving 
England; but a disagreeable eruption, called Nile buttons, troubled 
me some time : this is prevalent after the high Nile. Petherick 
was laid up from rheumatic fever immediately after our arrival ; 
the Doctor had a slight attack of ague, and Foxcroft also ; but 
these attacks were traced to their own imprudence, such as throw- 
ing off clothing when heated. I am convinced that, to a certain 
extent, health is in our own hands — regular exercise, no abandon- 
ment to the noon hour^s sleep usually indulged in by residents 
here, moderate living, rising before the sun, going to bed some 
three hours after its setting, and a careful regard to the chills 
and heat of the country. Flannel, heretofore my detestation, is 
indispensable. It is true, at present the weather is cold, like our 
winter at home, so great is the contrast ; and the clothing I wore 
at the close of last year is the same I now gladly adopt, and find 
that flannel is like Paddy^s great coat, it keeps both the cold and 
the heat out.^^ 
The Consulate is situated but a short distance from the river. 
The house and buildings occupy a very large space of ground. 
The garden is a fine one, in which all the fruit-bearing trees of the 
East flourish. We have horses, bullocks, cows, donkeys, gazelles, 
a great ant-bear, birds and poultry of every description, sheep, and 
