] and my companion made sure of his distances by a
latitudinal observation of Canopus.
Next morning we had 'English tea' for the first and last time in West
Africa; usually we preferred the Russian form, drunk in a tumbler with a
slice of lime that sinks or of lemon that floats. Mr. Gillett had given us
a bottle of 'Romanshorn' from the Swiss farm, an admirable preparation
which also yields fresh butter. The price is high, 1_s_. 6_d_. a bottle,
or, for the case of forty-eight imperial pints, 72_s_.; this, however, is
the Coast, not the cost figure. For invalids, who are nauseated by the
sickly, over-sugared stuff popularly called 'tin-juice,' and who feel life
put in them by rum and milk, it is an invaluable comfort.
We left Esubeyah in the 'lizard's sun' at 7 A.M., and found the river
changed for the worse. The freshets had uptorn from the banks the tallest
trees, which in places formed a timber-floor; and the surf-boat gallantly
charged, till she leaked, the huge trunks, over which she had often to be
lifted. Nothing would be easier than to clear away these obstacles; a few
pounds of gun-cotton would remove snags and sawyers, and dredging by boats
would do the rest.
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