After
Paddling Till Near Sunset, They Decided To Stop And Sleep On Shore;
But The Mosquitoes Were So Numerous That
They insisted on going on
again; the Bishop, being a week behind the time he had engaged to be
at
The Ruo, reluctantly consented, and in the darkness the canoe was
upset in one of the strong eddies or whirlpools, which suddenly boil
up in flood time near the outgoing branches of the river; clothing,
medicines, tea, coffee, and sugar were all lost. Wet and weary, and
tormented by mosquitoes, they lay in the canoe till morning dawned,
and then proceeded to Malo, an island at the mouth of the Ruo, where
the Bishop was at once seized with fever.
Had they been in their usual health, they would doubtless have pushed
on to Shupanga, or to the ship; but fever rapidly prostrates the
energies, and induces a drowsy stupor, from which, if not roused by
medicine, the patient gradually sinks into the sleep of death. Still
mindful, however, of his office, the Bishop consoled himself by
thinking that he might gain the friendship of the chief, which would
be of essential service to him in his future labours. That heartless
man, however, probably suspicious of all foreigners from the
knowledge he had acquired of white slave-traders, wanted to turn the
dying Bishop out of the hut, as he required it for his corn, but
yielded to the expostulations of the Makololo. Day after day for
three weeks did these faithful fellows remain beside his mat on the
floor; till, without medicine or even proper food, he died. They dug
his grave on the edge of the deep dark forest where the natives
buried their dead. Mr. Burrup, himself far gone with dysentery,
staggered from the hut, and, as in the dusk of evening they committed
the Bishop's body to the grave, repeated from memory portions of our
beautiful service for the Burial of the Dead - "earth to earth, ashes
to ashes, dust to dust; in sure and certain hope of the resurrection
of the dead through our Lord Jesus Christ." And in this sad way
ended the earthly career of one, of whom it can safely be said that
for unselfish goodness of heart, and earnest devotion to the noble
work he had undertaken, none of the commendations of his friends can
exceed the reality. The grave in which his body rests is about a
hundred yards from the confluence of the Ruo, on the left bank of the
Shire, and opposite the island of Malo. The Makololo then took Mr.
Burrup up in the canoe as far as they could, and, making a litter of
branches, carried him themselves, or got others to carry him, all the
way back to his countrymen at Magomero. They hurried him on lest he
should die in their hands, and blame be attached to them. Soon after
his return he expired, from the disease which was on him when he
started to meet his wife.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 183 of 263
Words from 95011 to 95514
of 136856
