178 J. C. Swan—Notes on a Voyage home from Africa in Winter


not allowed to accompany the birds, as the wharfage company’s tug

was reserved for “ cargo ” only. I was obliged to hurry to another jetty

about half a mile down the quay, hire a motor-boat, and endeavour to

reach that ship before the tug which, to give it its due, had already

started on a special journey out to the ship in the harbour with my

ten boxes of birds in order that they should not be left lying about

in the sun. As the birds had been packed in ten ladies’ hat-boxes of

the thinnest plywood for easy handling, they could not have weighed

as many pounds altogether !


Needless to say, with such a load the tug arrived at the ship first

and the birds had all been off-loaded before I reached the vessel I

was travelling by. There may be good business reasons for this

procedure, for most shipping companies prefer to do their loading and

unloading in privacy and not under the eyes of owners. On arrival

on board I found that the birds had been consigned to the care of the

butcher. I had already advised this good fellow that the consignment

was coming, so I eagerly sought him out and found that he had my

ten boxes neatly arranged on the top shelf of his butcher’s shop—

a room about 10 by 8 feet, where all the meat for the ship’s 400 souls

was cut up and distributed. There was one port-hole to the butcher’s

“ shop ” and an electric light bulb at about the level of the top shelf

supplied all the light that reached this compartment. The temperature,

I should think, would be well over 100 degrees. My heart sank as I con¬

jectured how the Sunbirds and rare Finches would survive the journey

from Dar-es-Salaam round the Cape to Southampton in these surround¬

ings, for such is the only accommodation that some of our largest vessels

have for livestock. My spirits rose when I was told that the captain

of the ship was an aviculturist, for it was quite obvious the birds could

not stay where they were, but there did not appear to be any other

place to put them. In a few minutes the “ skipper ” himself appeared,

and I was delighted to hear him give orders for a disused hospital

cabin astern to be cleared of bedding and the cages placed on the bunks.

I was given full access to the hospital deck and full use of this cabin.

Needless to say, that skipper and myself became the best of friends.


I do not intend to describe in great detail the birds in the collection,

which was neither representative of the bird life of Tanganyika nor



