DEATH OF DE. BEOWNELL, 
137 
The reis and secretary of Abd il Majid^s boat at Khartoum will 
receive their dismissal from Petherick^s service on account of their 
participation in this disgraceful affair. The reis made a full con- 
fessiouj asking pardon. He said that when the slaves were brought 
down to the boat^ he refused to admit them; but Abd il Majid 
said that he alone would be responsible should the circumstance 
ever reach the ears of the Consul, but which was not at all likely 
to be the case. 
There was a trifling quantity of powder only on board, so Abd il 
Majid coolly bartered reserve muskets to the Maltese, for the neces- 
sary powder and shot, to enable him to join the slave-hunting party, 
fully prepared. 
During the day the doctors^ boat, with its consort, was slowly 
advancing in the windings of the river, and we hoped that they 
might arrive in time to enable the doctors to dine with us at sun- 
set, and I made preparations accordingly. At four p.m. their canoe 
was reported approaching, but with neither of the gentlemen in her. 
We instantly had a painful misgiving that all was not well with 
them. Fadl Allah, one of their servants, came on board and handed 
a note to Petherick from Dr. Murie. It conveyed the mournful 
intelligence of the death of Dr. Clarence Brownell— he had expired 
but two hours previously. The canoe was sent back to return with 
Murie, who was grieving deeply. Dr. Brownell’s death was sudden 
at last : only a few hours before the end came was he aware of its 
approach. His complaint, at first a bilious attack, terminated in 
gastric fever. As the news of his death spread from boat to boat, 
a great gloom settled upon all therein ; and the usually noisy men 
paid their tribute of respect to the departed by the silence they so 
strictly observed. 
Soon after sunset the signal to start was given, and the little 
