CONCLUSION.
Kabinda — San Paulo de Loanda — On board H. M. S. In\
dzistry—Cape Town—Natal— Zanzibar— Joy of the returned
—Rewarding my gallant followers—The faithful dead not
forgotten—The moments of parting, sweet and sad—Laus]
Deo!
(August 12—December 13, 1877.)
After steaming northward from the mouth of
the Congo for a few hours, we entered the fine
bay of Kabinda, on the southern shores of which
the native town of that name in the country of/
Ngoyo is situate. On the southern point of the
bay stands a third factory of the enterprising
firm of Messrs. Hatton and Cookson, under the
immediate charge of their principal agent, Mr.
John Phillips. The establishment presents a prosperous
appearance, and the houses that have been
constructed are comfortable and spacious. The
Expedition received a cordial welcome from
Messrs. Phillips, Wills, Price, and Jones, and I
was housed in a cottage surrounded by gardens
and overlooking the glorious sea, while the people
were located in a large shed fronting the bay.
The next morning, when I proceeded to greet
the people, I discovered that one of the Wangwa-
na had died at sunrise; and when I examined
the condition of the other sufferers it became
apparent that there was to be yet no rest for
me, and that to save life I should have to be
assiduous and watchful. But for this, I should
have surrendered myself to the joys of life,
without a thought for myself or for others, and
no doubt I should have suffered in the same
degree as the Wangwana from the effects of
the sudden relaxation from care, trouble, or
necessity for further effort. There were also
other claims on my energies: I had to write
my despatches to the journals, and to re-establish
those bonds of friendship and sympathetic
communion that had been severed by the lapse
of dark years and long months of silence. My
poor people, however, had no such incentives
to rouse themselves from the stupor of indifference,
as fatal to them as the cold to a benighted
man in a snowy wilderness. Housed together
in a comfortable, barrack-like building, with every
convenience provided for them, and supplied
with food, raiment, fuel, water, and an excess
of luxuries, nothing remained for them to do;
and the consequence was, that the abrupt dead-
stop to all action and movement overwhelmed
them, and plunged them into a state of torpid
brooding from which it was difficult to arouse
them.