This Was As If A Man On The Gallows Were To
Continue To Breathe By A Broken Armbone, And Afforded Us An
Illustration Of The Fact, That In Birds, The Vital Air Penetrates
Every Part Of The Interior Of Their Bodies.
The breath passes
through and round about the lungs - bathes the surfaces of the
viscera, and enters the cavities
Of the bones; it even penetrates
into some spaces between the muscles of the neck - and thus not only
is the most perfect oxygenation of the blood secured, but, the
temperature of the blood being very high, the air in every part is
rarefied, and the great lightness and vigour provided for, that the
habits of birds require. Several birds were found by Dr. Kirk to
have marrow in the tibiae, though these bones are generally described
as hollow.
During the period of our detention on the shallow part of the river
in March, Mr. Thornton came up to us from Shupanga: he had, as
before narrated, left the Expedition in 1859, and joined Baron van
der Decken, in the journey to Kilimanjaro, when, by an ascent of the
mountain to the height of 8000 feet, it was first proved to be
covered with perpetual snow, and the previous information respecting
it, given by the Church of England Missionaries, Krapf and Rebman,
confirmed. It is now well known that the Baron subsequently ascended
the Kilimanjaro to 14,000 feet, and ascertained its highest peak to
be at least 20,000 feet above the sea. Mr. Thornton made the map of
the first journey, at Shupanga, from materials collected when with
the Baron; and when that work was accomplished, followed us. He was
then directed to examine geologically the Cataract district, but not
to expose himself to contact with the Ajawa until the feelings of
that tribe should be ascertained.
The members of Bishop Mackenzie's party, on the loss of their head,
fell back from Magomero on the highlands, to Chibisa's, in the low-
lying Shire Valley; and Thornton, finding them suffering from want of
animal food, kindly volunteered to go across thence to Tette, and
bring a supply of goats and sheep. We were not aware of this step,
to which the generosity of his nature prompted him, till two days
after he had started. In addition to securing supplies for the
Universities' Mission, he brought some for the Expedition, and took
bearings, by which he hoped to connect his former work at Tette with
the mountains in the Shire district. The toil of this journey was
too much for his strength, as with the addition of great scarcity of
water, it had been for that of Dr. Kirk and Rae, and he returned in a
sadly haggard and exhausted condition; diarrhoea supervened, and that
ended in dysentery and fever, which terminated fatally on the 21st of
April, 1863. He received the unremitting attentions of Dr. Kirk, and
Dr. Meller, surgeon of the "Pioneer," during the fortnight of his
illness; and as he had suffered very little from fever, or any other
disease, in Africa, we had entertained strong hopes that his youth
and unimpaired constitution would have carried him through.
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