The Stomach And Spleen Swelled Enormously, Giving Me,
For The First Time, An Appearance Which I Had Been Disposed To Laugh At
Among The Portuguese.
At Interra we met Senhor Asevedo,
a man who is well known by all who ever visited Kilimane,
and who was presented with a gold chronometer watch by the Admiralty
for his attentions to English officers.
He immediately tendered
his large sailing launch, which had a house in the stern.
This was greatly in my favor, for it anchored in the middle of the stream,
and gave me some rest from the mosquitoes, which in the whole of the delta
are something frightful. Sailing comfortably in this commodious launch
along the river of Kilimane, we reached that village (latitude 17d 53' 8" S.,
longitude 36d 40' E.) on the 20th of May, 1856, which wanted
only a few days of being four years since I started from Cape Town.
Here I was received into the house of Colonel Galdino Jose Nunes,
one of the best men in the country. I had been three years without hearing
from my family; letters having frequently been sent, but somehow or other,
with but a single exception, they never reached me. I received, however,
a letter from Admiral Trotter, conveying information of their welfare,
and some newspapers, which were a treat indeed. Her majesty's brig
the "Frolic" had called to inquire for me in the November previous,
and Captain Nolluth, of that ship, had most considerately left a case of wine;
and his surgeon, Dr. James Walsh, divining what I should need most,
left an ounce of quinine.
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