about forty miles from the bar. The "Pearl" then left us, and we had to
part with our good friends Duncan and Skead; the former for Ceylon, the
latter to return to his duties as Government Surveyor at the Cape.

Of those who eventually did the work of the expedition the majority took
a sober common-sense view of the enterprise in which we were engaged.
Some remained on Expedition Island from the 18th June until the 13th
August, while the launch and pinnace were carrying the goods up to
Shupanga and Senna. The country was in a state of war, our luggage was
in danger, and several of our party were exposed to disease from
inactivity in the malaria of the delta. Here some had their first
introduction to African life, and African fever. Those alone were safe
who were actively employed with the vessels, and of course, remembering
the perilous position of their fellows, they strained every nerve to
finish the work and take them away.

Large columns of smoke rose daily from different points of the horizon,
showing that the natives were burning off the immense crops of tall
grass, here a nuisance, however valuable elsewhere. A white cloud was
often observed to rest on the head of the column, as if a current of hot
damp air was sent up by the heat of the flames and its moisture was
condensed at the top. Rain did not follow, though theorists have
imagined that in such cases it ought.

Large game, buffaloes, and zebras, were abundant abreast the island, but
no men could be seen. On the mainland, over on the right bank of the
river, we were amused by the eccentric gyrations and evolutions of flocks
of small seed-eating birds, who in their flight wheeled into compact
columns with such military precision as to give us the impression that
they must be guided by a leader, and all directed by the same signal.