zled me amazingly; and it proves to us that we must be careful in considering the customs of natives who have received white men among them. When Lawlin died-that is to say, six months previous to my arrival-he was buried in the prairie, at his own request. A Spanish carpenter had made him a wooden tomb, painted to resemble stone, encircled by a railing. A Christian native (so they told me) had painted this below: SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF CAPT. RICHARD E. LAWLIN, OF N. Y. DIED ON THE 6TH OF DECEMBER, 1861. "One soweth and another reapeth." JOHN, iv., 37. Reapers, behold the sower!! I sat down by this grave. No one but those who have traveled in a wild, and desert, and sickly land can understand the emotions with which one contemplates the grave of a white man in the wilderness. It diverts one from the ignoble realities of savage life, and fills one's eyes with those tears which the proudest man is not ashamed to shed. But I was soon recalled to positive existence. On arriving at Brooklyn, I had sent for a man, named Mafuk, whom I wished to take with me as co-interpreter with Oshupu, and who was acquainted with the creeks and windings of the river, the position. of its villages, the tastes and prejudices of its inhabitants. Mafuk now stood before me. He was an extremely small man, with a yellower face, and something more nearly approaching a beard than one usually finds among these people. Small as he was, he was far from wanting in self-sufficiency, and freely indulged in that familiarity which is the parent of contempt. He began in this manner; and I must premise that a negro always makes inquiries concerning the welfare of one's near relatives. "How do you do, my dear friend?" "I am very well." "Oh, you very well? dat good thing! How your father live?" I answered that he "lived well." "And your mother-she well too?" This catechism began to annoy me, and I answered gruffly in the affirmative. "You got a sister?" "What's that to you?" cried I, savagely. Mafuk gave a shrug of his shoulders, as much as to say, "How extremely ill bred these white men are!" "I only ask you that, my dear friend," he expostulated, in an oily tone. "Mafuk," I replied, with concentrated rage, "you are not my dear friend at all. But if you like to take four dollars a month, you may be my servant." "Please, sir, five-" "Four dollars a month," I repeated; "if you get me a canoe and four men to paddle in two hours' time"-here I looked at the sun, that great time-piece of the desert-"if not, I shall take another steward." Mafuk vanished, and returned under the time prescribed: the men were hired at a fathom of cloth a day: the canoe belonged to the factory, and was, of course, lent to me by my companion, whose property it became. It was arranged that we should start at daylight on the following morning; and I never had afterward to complain of Mafuk's inquiries about my family, or of his calling me his dear friend. I laid out that night on the other side of the island for hippopotami; but none came ashore, possibly because the moon was so very bright. However, I afforded excellent sport to a squadron of musquitoes, who lanced me incessantly till they had raised red spots all over me like miniature mole-hills. Before daylight I commenced to make my preparations for the interior, which, always the same, I will, once for all, describe. My canoe would be furnished with mast and sail, spare paddles, and long poles for punting, or to moor by in the shallows; a large stone jar or cask filled with water for the men; a smaller one for my own private drinking. My bed was spread in the stern, so that I could lie down if I wished; and my rug folded into a seat in the bow, on which I would sometimes perch myself, gun in hand, when I wished to shoot a specimen to preserve, or for my dinner. My men's provisions were bunches of plantains, bought at a shilling the bunch, or at least its equivalent in the currency-a fathom of cloth, or two heads of tobacco, or ten strings of beads, or one brass rod, or a red cap such as worn by our "bargees." Then there were bars of iguma, which is the cassada thus prepared. The species cultivated in Equatorial Africa being that which is regarded as poisonous in a raw state, the root is soaked eight or ten days in fresh water; though black mud, which some prefer, answers the purpose as well. It then becomes soft and ready to fall to pieces; is pounded into dough, moulded into rolls a foot and a half in length, like Titanic sausages, bound up in leaves, and steamed for an hour or two. The result of all this is, in appearance, not unlike the worst kind of Welsh cheese, but possessing a strong acrid taste, which, fortunately for mankind, is not to be found in any other form of food. However, the cassada, when simply boiled, has actually no taste at all. This was all that I was actually required to find; but when harder work than usual was required of them I used to buy them dried fish, and give them a little tobacco as well. Besides, we generally managed to pick up something along the river banks— a monkey, a squirrel, a toucan, a parrot, or, if we were fortunate, a guana; which animals, in spite of "their deformitie and lothsomnes," I, with Peter Martyr, "affirm to be of more pleasant taste than eyther our phesantes or partriches." One tin box, water-proof, and not too heavy, contained my ammunition, a bottle of chlorodine in case of dysentery, of quinine for fever, one spare shirt, two pairs of stockings, a measuring tape, twine, a pair of scissors, a couteau de chasse, some kind of book which required study, a pound of tea, a few ditto of sugar, two or three tins of prepared cocoa, and a bottle of oil, to protect my guns from rust, which in this moist climate forms in a manner exceeding all belief. I carried a double-barreled rifle and fowlingpiece, which I had obtained from Mr. John Lang, of Cockspur Street, and, though I had not many opportunities of testing the former on living objects, I had reason to be highly satisfied with both. Another tin box, similar in size and make, contained my cash, which in this country is very cumbersome, consisting of those articles which I have just mentioned. The cloth is measured, I said, by fathoms. This is done by one's steward, who stretches his arms out straight from the shoulder, which comes to six feet or thereabouts. If the purchaser has longer arms than the steward, he calls it short measure; if he is not well-developed in that respect, he laughs at you in his sleeve. My stewards, however, had never afforded them much gratification in that way. Mongilomba had extremely fat, short arms, and Oshupu had an ingenious |