trees amidst the rocks. The native fishing canoes had been
beached. The sound of the drums which had echoed over
the still waters gradually lessened and ceased.
A few people passed to and fro over the gravelled paths,
the soft tread of their naked feet being scarcely perceptible
as they hurried rapidly along; the Ajawa being far from
home when he is outside his hut at night. They think that
the evil spirits of the departed are out and about seeking
for whom they may devour.*
Through the dark veil of night bright Cynthia smiled,
and under other circumstances my perceptions of a beautiful
scene might have been quickened, even the solitude
giving a deeper sympathy with nature.
But how long, how dismal those moments of loneliness
seemed! The feelings they aroused are utterly beyond
description, even were description of any use ; for no one
can appreciate the despondency of a man being thrown
entirely upon himself, except those who have been similarly
placed.
The wind that nightly whistled through the stunted
boughs of the baobab died with the sinking sun, and anon
the atmosphere became gloomy with gathering mists which
masked the stars, leaving the still scene in a darkness as
black as the pall of death. Nothing could be heard but the
murmuring wash of the restless waves beating and playing
upon the shore.
Retiring from thé scene I was soon wrapped in the folds
of the familiar plaid, and being exhausted in mind and
body, unconsciousness was soon upon me.
Rattle, rattle ! went the clattering window-frames. “ Good
heavens, how it blows! No rest for the weary in this
* The Ajawa believe in the existence of all manner of hidden influences
wishing to eat their dead.
unfortunate place!” The disturbance occurred in the
middle of the night, and half awakened me. I tried to
sleep, but the noise was repeated louder than before, and
I was now startled by an accompaniment of excited human
voices.
“ Mzungo! Mzungo! ” was shouted vigorously, and the
sound was not noise, but music to my ears.
“ White men! ” I shouted, as I sprung from the blanket
as quickly as could be done at a fire alarm, and actually
leaped through the window ; failing energies being braced
to a wonderful extent by the suddenness of the incredible
news.
Getting to the outside, I heard the story. I t appeared
that Mara and two others were coming back late from a
pombe feast, and were now before me declaring that they
saw a light far out on the lake. They said “ it was the
white men’s light.”
As fast as I could I ran along the beach, and sure enough
in the pitchy gloom soon distinguished a dot of faint light
twinkling in the distance over the waters. I t did not take
long to set fire to heaps of the dry grass which lay along
the verge of the beach, and soon a blazing bonfire was
sending its ruddy rays far across the darkness of the
slumbering lake. My sensations as I watched the shifting
light are now an indescribable memory.
Joyful indeed it was to see the bows of a small steamer
emerging slowly and cautiously from the gloom. Even at
this moment of happy expectation doubts arose. Perhaps
she had only come for anchorage, and might leave ere
daylight; so, with all the energy I could muster for a last
effort, I shouted “ Steamer ahoy! ”
The vessel crept slowly up until she was within gunshot
of the shore, and by the gleam of the fires which the boys