The Rains Ceased On The 14th, And The Waters Of The Shire Fell, Even
More Rapidly Than They Had Risen.
A shoal, twenty miles below
Chibisa's, checked our further progress, and we lay there five weary
weeks, till the permanent rise of the river took place.
During this
detention, with a large marsh on each side, the first death occurred
in the Expedition which had now been three-and-a-half years in the
country. The carpenter's mate, a fine healthy young man, was seized
with fever. The usual remedies had no effect; he died suddenly while
we were at evening prayers, and was buried on shore. He came out in
the "Pioneer," and, with the exception of a slight touch of fever at
the mouth of the Rovuma, had enjoyed perfect health all the time he
had been with us. The Portuguese are of opinion that the European
who has immunity from this disease for any length of time after he
enters the country is more likely to be cut off by it when it does
come, than the man who has it frequently at first.
The rains became pretty general towards the close of December, and
the Shire was in flood in the beginning of January, 1862. At our
wooding-place, a mile above the Ruo, the water was three feet higher
than it was when we were here in June; and on the night of the 6th it
rose eighteen inches more, and swept down an immense amount of
brushwood and logs which swarmed with beetles and the two kinds of
shells which are common all over the African continent.
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