TRAVELS IN AFRICA. 133 enabled to do, after much toil and trouble, by the 17th of July.

Our position was on an elevated plain, lying about half a quarter of a mile west of the village, between us and which ran a copious stream of water, occasionally swollen to a considerable size by the rains. Around a clear spot, of about two acres, we erected several huts. We soon found, however, they were neither sufficiently solid to withstand the violence of the tornados, nor well enough thatched to keep out the rain, in consequence of which the men were continually getting wet, and falling sick. Mr. Burton and Mr. Nelson, and nearly all the Europeans, were labouring under fever and dysentery. On the 18th, the former was reduced to the very last stage, and Mr. Pilkington, and three men, were so ill when we left Boolibany, that they could not be moved. Had we been able to continue our journey to the east, those officers and men must have been left behind ; and to this, unpleasant s it might have been to our feelings, we must in that case have submitted. Mr. Burton's sufferings, however, were of short duration ; he died on the 19th, having been only a few days ill.

This sudden and melancholy event appeared to Cast a gloom over all, and, when his remains were committed to their last abode, every European present shewed evident symptoms of ap-