6

a short time before his decease, every means were tried to calm him, but in vain; the same impatient painful restlessness still prevailed. At length Captain Owen, who knew from experience that singing had a powerful effect in soothing extreme pain by diverting the mind from its sufferings, and fearful that the heart-rending expressions and cries uttered by Captain Lechmere might produce an injurious effect upon the other object of his solicitude, commenced that pathetic ballad, "Here a sheer hulk lies poor Tom Bowline." The first note produced a cessation of his frenzy: from raving madness he sank into almost total insensibility, which continued until Captain Owen came to the words" His soul is gone aloft!" when a long guttural sound announced that his spirit was fled, which was instantly confirmed by his attendant saying, in a melancholy tone, "He's gone, Sir!"-" And aloft, I hope!" replied the Captain, as he concluded his song.'-vol. i. pp. 128, 129.

We remember having heard of Captain Owen's notions on this point, when, in the midst of the dead and dying on Fernando Po, he daily witnessed the loss of some one or more of his companions; he there, as now, stoutly maintained that imagination and apprehension killedmore than the climate. Captain Lechmere's servant, we are told, took to his bed the day after his master's death with a determination to die;' Captain Owen, perceiving at once the nature of his case, ordered him to be freely supplied with wine; but after three or four days the man announced solemnly to his messmates that, at the midnight bell, he should be no more. Still he took his wine freely, fell fast asleep that night, and awoke in the morning, to his great astonishment, quite well. His disease, the Captain asserts, was only of the imagination, produced by sympathy and apprehension; and the cure of this man convinced him that a mental affection could only be removed by an oblivious medicine.

The fever, however, in spite of wine and medicine, soon began to make dreadful ravages: the cases are stated to have amounted to upwards of twenty, among whom there was not one who had not been employed away from the ship on these river expeditions.' Here we have at once the cause of all their misfortunes. Mr. Cannon, a midshipman, the carpenter, the caulker, a seaman, and a marine, were the next victims. The surgeon and principal officers of the Leven represented to the Captain the absolute necessity of removing into the open bay, where the sea-breeze was blowing, to save the lives of the people. The whole crew was but sixty, out of whom twenty-nine were laid up with fever; but Capt. Owen, though he thought proper to comply with the wishes of his officers, still maintained his doctrine that the disease was much more the result of fear and anticipation than of the climate. In this respect, the gallant Captain is partly borne out by the opinion contained

in the cautionary address of the College of Physicians on the first approach of cholera; but we are inclined to think that, by men of ordinary understandings, the mortality, on the present occasion, will be mainly ascribed to the effects of the muddy creeks and inlets, the putrid swamps and mangrove jungles, that cover the banks of the rivers. It would, indeed, be absurd to talk of a bad climate on the open sea, or clear dry ground, in the latitude of 30°. If anything were wanting to afford a decisive proof of the cause of the dreadful mortality, we have it in the fate of the party, consisting of six officers and twenty-four seamen and marines, sent under Captain Cutfield of the Barracouta to explore the Manice, or King George's River. On the party's return to the bay, a telegraph signal announced that the captain, four officers, and eighteen men were on the sick-list. To Captain Cutfield, Lieutenant Gibbons, Mr. Morley, the master, and Mr. Watkins, midshipman, the disease proved fatal-thus making the aggregate of deaths amount to twenty; and when the ships left Delagoa Bay for the northward, fifty were in their hammocks; and though it is stated that the pleasing effect of novelty, together with the sea air, produced a most salutary change in many, yet several more died; a midshipman, two seamen, and a boy, in the Leven; and the boatswain, a marine, and a boy, in the Barracouta.

The Cockburn furnished a party to explore the Mapoota River, falling into the southern part of the bay; and here again, out of twenty men the whole crew, there remained alive on the return of the vessel only seven officers and men-Lieutenant Owen being the only white person on board able to do anything. Here then we have another proof that these river explorations were the sole cause of the melancholy consequences' alluded to by the Editor of this book. Frightful,' says Captain Owen, was the list of those who had fallen beneath the deadly curse of Africa, amounting to two-thirds of the officers and one-half of the crews of the three vessels.' We may observe that this curse is equally felt on the western coast. The master of the steamer, in which Lander is now exploring the Niger, on pretence of being too soon for the swelling of that river, dawdled away the time in the creeks of the coast--the crew caught the fever, which they carried into the Nun-and he and twenty-six of the party died. The rest recovered only on reaching the hills through which the Niger flows.

There was one other river-expedition on the present survey equally deplorable in its results, with which we shall finish this painful part of the Narrative-it is that of the Quilimane, being one of those to which, by his instructions, Captain Owen's particular attention was directed. The party sent to explore this river

VOL. L. NO. XCIX.

K

at

at least as high as Senna, and if practicable to Tete, the extreme settlement of the Portuguese, consisted of Lieutenant Browne, Mr. Forbes, the botanist, Mr. Kilpatrick, assistant-surgeon, and two black servants, Antonio and Adonis. The governor of Quilimane supplied them with a large canoe of eight or ten tons, and a black subaltern officer to accompany them. The river soon narrowed from a mile in width, till, at some forty miles from the sea, it was only from twenty to thirty yards broad. They therefore crossed by land to another branch; the country flat, pretty well cultivated, and abounding with villages. At the house of one Paulo Mariano they were received in the most kind and hospitable manner. Here the Zambezi united with the large river or branch called the Luabo, The following description will answer for most of the half-caste residents invested with official authority in the interior:

-:

'This Paulo Mariano held the rank of colonel in the militia, having under his command about one hundred natives, armed with muskets, according to the fashion of the country; he was likewise a merchant, dealing largely in ivory and gold-dust. His days were spent in an unvaried routine of sleeping and indolence; the following details of one being fully descriptive of all. He rose early, and amused himself in the balcony of his house until breakfast, by smoking several charotes; at eight he breakfasted, and then occupied himself for a short time among his people, slept away the noon hour, and dined at two, the table groaning beneath a profusion of meats, dressed in a variety of ways, in which port wine generally formed a principal ingredient. After the meal was ended, and he had smoked another charote, the old gentleman once more retired to rest, and did not rise again until the coolness of the evening drew him forth, enveloped in a cloak, to enjoy the refreshing air; at nine he took supper, and shortly after retired to bed.'—vol. ii. pp. 49, 50.

Mr. Browne states, in his Notes, that many of the men belonging to the Colonel were perfect models of the human frame: no other dress than a mere waist-cloth-their hair long and neatly plaited-they were evidently a mixture of the Gallas or Kaffers. At this place two of the party were taken ill; but their kind host fitted up a canoe with every convenience, which carried them up to Chaponga, the residence of Donna Pascoa. The river was broad, but the stream rapid, on account of numerous sand-banks, and their progress slow. On their arrival, Donna Pascoa received them with many expressions of welcome. This lady is governess of the district and colonel of a militia of native negroes. pays an annual sum for her government, and levies taxes in kind, consisting of bees'-wax, fowls, meat, vegetables, oil, rice, &c. Timber for the largest canoes is a source of considerable profit, which, she told Mr. Browne, would be greatly increased if she

She

were

were allowed to work two gold mines lately discovered within her territory.

'Her domestic establishment was in a style of much splendour. The display at meals was sumptuous, the table being covered with massy plate, while the viands were of the choicest quality. She was a merchant, and considered the richest in the colony, her principal agent being a Banyan, or of the Hindoo left-handed caste, who travelled through the country with Indian and European goods, collecting in return gold, ivory, and slaves.'—vol. ii. p. 56.

This good lady prepared two canoes to convey the party to Senna, with an ample supply of provisions. Mr. Forbes was very ill, and became worse from the cold, the thermometer having fallen as low as 62°. On the fifth day after their departure, he breathed his last. Very unlike Donna Pascoa's welcome was their reception by the commandant and priest of Senna; the latter had a repulsive and crafty expression of countenance, and his conduct corresponded with his features. Ten houses of European construction, and a scattered assemblage of huts, compose the town of Senna, situate on a plain covered with a forest of tamarind, mango, and cocoa-nut trees, interspersed with filthy, stagnant pools, sufficiently demonstrative of the unhealthiness of the place, and of the inactivity of its inhabitants. The district of Senna and of Tete, about sixty leagues higher up, would be capa ble, with an industrious population, of producing all the luxuries of life for export and consumption, but the commerce is chiefly confined to gold, ivory, and slaves.

Donna Pascoa's husband having died at Senna, this lady came thither to settle his affairs, and in her company the two travellers spent about a fortnight comfortably, at the end of which time both were seized with fever, and in a few days Lieutenant Browne expired, leaving Mr. Kilpatrick in the midst of disease, sorrows, and difficulties, against which in his enervated state he was ill able to contend. The two servants, Antonio and Adonis, were both ill, but they contrived to procure a coffin, and with the aid of some negroes dug a grave, and interred the corpse, which the priest had refused to do.

Mr. Kilpatrick was now thrown into a state of hopeless despondency, from which nothing could arouse him; unnerved and broken-hearted by disease and melancholy reflections, he had recourse to spirituous liquors. Donna Pascoa was most attentive to him: she took him to Chaponga, where for a time he left off drinking spirits, but complaining that food injured him, he presently returned to the vicious practice, and in a little while sank under

K 2

his

his disease. Thus,' says Captain Owen, terminated this illfated expedition, in which three gentlemen of more than common talent and enterprise found early and distant graves.'

Much needs not be said of Mozambique. It is a low coral island in the mouth of the harbour of the same name which separates it from the main land; the town is built on the side of the island which faces the harbour. In the palace and forts, and some of the houses, are still visible the remains of former grandeur, but the whole place had the appearance of rapidly falling into decay. Its ancient wealth and vice-regal splendour are now lost in poverty and gloom. The population is made up of a few native Portuguese, Arabs, Creoles, and slaves, the last by much the most numerous. The principal trade consists of these unhappy beings, with skins, ivory, and a little gold-dust. The following story says little for the moral tone of the society here:

·

A Portuguese family, notorious for wealth and licentiousness, resided at Mozambique. Of the female branches Donna L was reputed handsome; she had for a short time tasted the sweets of matrimony, but was now a gay and young widow without any restraint. This lady was visited by all the gentlemen of the place. But the man who pretended to the exclusive enjoyment of her favours, was a Col. P de C, who united in his character all the essentials of a coward and a bully.

'It appeared, however, that he had rather overrated his powers of attraction, for Donna L was at once struck with a passion for a young Englishman, who was remarkable for elegance of person and gentlemanly manners. The proofs of the lady's preference for poor Dowling were too conspicuous to escape the penetration of the cidevant lover, whose warm and jealous temperament was at once inflamed by all the demons of hatred and revenge. Fearing the coolness and courage of the English character, he endeavoured to control his anger until a favourable opportunity offered for a sure and bloody sacrifice of its object. This event was perhaps a little hastened by a meeting which took place between the parties at the house of Donna L, when the colonel, a little excited by wine, forgot his cold-blooded policy, and, overcome by love and jealousy, not only insulted, but afterwards drew his sword upon Dowling in the lady's ́s presence.

The Englishman acted as most of his countrymen would have done under the same circumstances, by instantly seizing the colonel, thrusting him out of the room, and then, it is said, kicking him down stairs. Dowling_concluded that this affair would not end here; he thought that the Portuguese character was as brave and honourable as his own, and, in expectation of having to give the colonel satisfaction in the morning, went to bed. He slept upon the ground-floor

of