A LEAK. 
123 
also teach their children to rebel against him.'" Others gave testi- 
mony to the same effect; Petherick therefore decided that the 
women should at once return home. They refused to do so_, and 
threw themselves on the deck, screaming and kicking ; two or three 
of our men lifted them up and carried them on shore, when imme- 
diately they ran off in an opposite direction to their village. Their 
amazed children did not follow, but the old chief pursued one wife, 
whilst a friend ran after the other. Shotbyl soon fell, the ground 
was uneven ; when he rose, he threw off his panther-skin, laid down l 
his lance, and, with club only in hand, raced again after his wife, 
who had stood for a moment to laugh loudly at the old man's dis- 
comfiture. The younger wife was soon caught by the friends : she 
seemed heartily pleased to have excited so much attention. 
A bullock and goats were bought — the Nouaers were exorbitant 
in their demands. 
The mosquitoes are terrible in their attacks. At night we can 
have no light in the cabins, and we are compelled to sit enveloped 
in smoke from smouldering wood to keep them off — this remedy 
is painful to the eyes. 
May ^th . — At daybreak a cry was heard that the Lady of the 
Nile" was fast filling. The rets on diving discovered three leakages. 
All of us baled, and the cargo was flung on shore. Many packages 
were ruined ; and the sun would not shine forth to brighten our 
difficulties. Saw for the first time the lotus plant. 
Friday, May 9th . — ^Wind and rain at intervals. The negroes on 
shore remain near the dahahyeh, and are solicitous for presents. 
It is Petherick's birthday, and we cannot be joyous — all things 
tend to depress us. The reis expresses his doubts as to our onward 
progress ; wind and current are against it. 
