Our illness began ten days after our arrival, and we were laid aside for about three weeks. During this time all the other Europeans on the Station were also ill, and no one was able to take care of another. Dr. Macklin often rose from a sick bed to do what he could. One of our greatest difficulties was to get food. The cooking of the natives when left to themselves exceeded anything we had yet encountered. Besides, the black people did not understand a word we said. If we asked for a glass of milk they would bring a tin of biscuits, after that they would try a tin of butter, and then in despair they would bring in an armful of books! But it is when the invalid begins to recover that he misses the comforts of his native land. There are certain things that a sick man must have at home that he cannot get here: he sees this at once and there is no use of fretting over it. Not only is the invalid bereft of home comforts, but he is subjected to a great many annoyances. He hears the jackals and the hyænas screaming round the station, and a single night is sufficient to convince him that these creatures have most powerful lungs. Besides, a lion may be sitting coolly in the verandah. The roads round the mission are marked each morning with the footprints of animals of all kinds. The station is just in the middle of a dense bush, which has not been cleared farther than was absolutely necessary. As one looks out at a window he may see large buck at about 100 yards from him. _Artisans._—The first thing that struck us as we approached the station, was the paleness of the four or five Englishmen that were standing to welcome us. The effect of this was heightened by their contrast with the hundreds of black faces that surrounded them. Members of the Free Church Mission were there too. Most of the young men felt their isolated position, all had suffered severely from fever, and already death had been thinning their ranks. An air of stillness, not to say of sadness, overhung the place. After we had recovered from attacks of fever; there was a magic lantern entertainment, where through an interpreter I acted as demonstrator. I can never forget Dr. Macklin’s remark, that “there was more fun and laughing that night, both among natives and Europeans, than he had seen since the Mission began”. The men were all of that age when hope is strongest in the human soul, but they had met with much to discourage them. As the dawn of Christmas morn reminded a man of the festivities of the season, and of his friends in the far off home, he found himself lying in bed overcome by weakness, but obliged to hold up an umbrella to shield his blankets from the rain. All had felt what it is to undergo long periods of sickness while destitute of every comfort. The Directors at home, who were entrusted with the Church collections found it necessary to cut down the Mission expenditure. The poor fellows in Africa, though separated from friends and weakened by sickness, had this