372 
CAMERON'S JOURNEY ACROSS AFRICA 
jumped out, seized the baskets and instantly opened a bottle to drink 
‘to the honor of the first European who had ever succeeded in crossing 
tropical Africa from east to west/ For this hearty welcome I found 
I was indebted to Monsieur Cauchoix, an old officer of the French 
navy, who had settled as a merchant at Benguella. Hearing of my 
approach between ten and eleven o’clock the night before, he had im¬ 
mediately started off to meet me. His other baskets were also full of 
provisions, which he distributed to my men, throwing loaves of bread 
at the hungry mortals; after which we moved on, and in a few min¬ 
utes arrived at a house which he owned in Katombela.” 
Arrangements were at once made for sending relief to the men 
behind, and then Cameron very unwillingly found himself so seriously 
ill that he had with all haste to be carried in a hammock to the hospital 
at Benguella. His tongue was so swollen that it projected beyond 
his teeth, blood flowed copiously from his mouth, and his body was an 
extraordinary sight, covered with blotches of a variety of shades, 
purple, blue, black and green, the rest of the skin being a deadly white. 
He was indeed in a dangerous state; and probably if the illness had 
come on a few days before, his life must have been lost. As it was, 
with careful nursing and the gradual administration of natural food, 
the crisis passed’; before long, he was able to eat and go about again 
as usual, and had the satisfaction of seeing the remarkable kaleidos¬ 
copic appearance of his skin rapidly fade away. 
There is little more to be told. From Loanda the men who had 
accompanied him from Zanzibar were sent back in a schooner he 
specially bought for the purpose, and Cameron himself took passage 
in the steamer “Congo” for Liverpool, where he arrived on the 2d of 
April, three years and four months after his departure. 
