344 THE EXPLORATION OF THE NIGER LOVE-SONG.

When evening falls upon the land asleep, When mute the singers of the tropic plain, When winds die down, and every bird's refrain Or insect's cry is hush'd in silence deep ; Then from the lotus beds triumphant leap Frantic crescendoes of a rhythmic strain, Wild cadences mount up, to sink again Lamenting, as when mourners wail and weep j — Comes to the traveller upon the stream, A Plain-Song Litany of high despair ; The notes Gregorian fit into his dream Of home and fatherland, remotely fair ; — Whilst from the gleaming mud in Niger's course Rises an amorous croak, now sweet, now hoarse.

In every country in the world fine weather comes after rain, and the tornado was succeeded on the Niger by a star-light night of a clearness and limpidity such as is never seen anywhere out of the tropics. The soft murmur of the Niger was borne to us upon the gentle night breeze, reminding us of the Fulah proverb — " UUilulii ko tiaygueul, so mayo hdwi dcgiiietl' which may be translated — " Ulululu cries the brook, the big river is silent." A true description indeed of what really often seemed to happen during our long imprisonment on our island, for we could hear the gurgling of the rapid further downstream, but the voice of the river was hushed. Our nights passed quietly enough, watch being always kept by one white man, one black subordinate officer, and two coolies. From Timbuktu to Lokodja, that is to say, from January 21 to October 21, we five Europeans had taken the night-watch in turn. It must be admitted that at Fort Archinard it was sometimes rather difficult to remain awake, and to keep ourselves from yielding to our exhausting fatigue. We had to resort to various manoeuvres, such