doing; that he would make a mess of the whole thing, and ruin all
of us; that he was frightened at him; that he did not consider
himself safe in the tent with him, and many other things. Some of
this was said in the presence of the Doctor and Mr. Becker; but the
most severe remarks were to me alone after they were gone. On
Monday, Mr. Landells asked Hodgkinson to write out for him his
resignation, and then in a private conversation, told Hodgkinson
several things, which the latter thought it best to make a note of
at once. Hodgkinson's statement is this--that Mr. Landells having
asked him whether he could keep a secret, told him, after
extracting a sort of promise about holding his tongue, that Mr.
Burke wanted an excuse for discharging him, and that he had sent
him with the camels with an order to him (Mr. Landells) to find
fault with him for that purpose. On hearing this, Hodgkinson wanted
to go to Mr. Burke and speak to him about it at once; but Landells
prevented this by reminding him of his promise. This all came out
owing to some remarks that Hodgkinson had made to me, and which I
considered myself in duty bound to tell Mr. Burke. On Monday
evening Mr. Landells was speaking to me about the best and quickest
way of getting to town, when I suggested to him that he might be
placing himself in a disagreeable position by leaving in such a
hurry without giving any notice. He replied that he did not care,
but that he meant to propose certain terms to Mr. Burke, which he
read to me from his pocket-book, and on these terms only he would
go:--"That Mr. Burke should give him a written agreement that he,
Mr. L., should have full and unqualified charge of the camels, and
that from that time Mr. B. should not interfere with them in any
way; that they should travel no further nor faster than Mr. L.
chose, and that he should be allowed to carry provisions for them
to the amount of four camels' burthen." Just after this, Mr. B.