Severe Gales Occurred During Our Stay On The Coast, And Many Small
Sea-Birds (Prion Banksii, Smith) Perished:
The beach was strewn with
their dead bodies, and some were found hundreds of yards inland; many
were so emaciated as to dry up without putrefying.
We were plagued
with myriads of mosquitoes, and had some touches of fever; the men we
brought from malarious regions of the interior suffered almost as
much from it here as we did ourselves. This gives strength to the
idea that the civilized withstand the evil influences of strange
climates better than the uncivilized. When negroes return to their
own country from healthy lands, they suffer as severely as foreigners
ever do.
On the 31st of January, 1861, our new ship, the "Pioneer," arrived
from England, and anchored outside the bar; but the weather was
stormy, and she did not venture in till the 4th of February.
Two of H.M. cruisers came at the same time, bringing Bishop
Mackenzie, and the Oxford and Cambridge Mission to the tribes of the
Shire and Lake Nyassa. The Mission consisted of six Englishmen, and
five coloured men from the Cape. It was a puzzle to know what to do
with so many men. The estimable Bishop, anxious to commence his work
without delay, wished the "Pioneer" to carry the Mission up the
Shire, as far as Chibisa's, and there leave them. But there were
grave objections to this. The "Pioneer" was under orders to explore
the Rovuma, as the Portuguese Government had refused to open the
Zambesi to the ships of other nations, and their officials were very
effectually pursuing a system, which, by abstracting the labour, was
rendering the country of no value either to foreigners or to
themselves.
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