The Baloch and the sons of Ramji quarrel, yell, roar, and talk of eating--the popular subject of converse in these lands, as is beer in England, politics in France, law in Normandy, “pasta” at Naples, and to say no more, money everywhere--till a late hour. About 8 P.M., the small hours of the country, sounds the cry lala! lala!--sleep! It is willingly obeyed by all except the women, who must sometimes awake to confabulate even at midnight. One by one the caravan sinks into torpid slumber. At this time, especially when in the jungle-bivouac, the scene often becomes truly impressive. The dull red fires flickering and forming a circle of ruddy light in the depths of the black forest, flaming against the tall trunks and defining the foliage of the nearer trees, illuminate lurid groups of savage men, in every variety of shape and posture. Above, the dark purple sky, studded with golden points, domes the earth with bounds narrowed by the gloom of night. And, behold! in the western horizon, a resplendent crescent, with a dim, ash-coloured globe in its arms, and crowned by Hesperus, sparkling like a diamond, sinks through the vast of space, in all the glory and gorgeousness of Eternal Nature’s sublimest works. From such a night, methinks, the Byzantine man took his device, the Crescent and the Star. The rate of caravan-marching in East Africa greatly varies. In cool moonlit mornings, over an open path, the Pagazi will measure perhaps four miles an hour. This speed is reduced by a quarter after a short “spurt,” and under normal, perhaps favourable, circumstances, three statute miles will be the highest average. Throughout the journey it is safe to reckon for an Indian file of moderate length--say 150 men--2·25 English miles, or what is much the same, 1·75 geographical miles per hour, measured by compass from point to point. In a clear country an allowance of 20 per cent, must be made for winding: in closer regions 40-50 per cent., and the traveller must exercise his judgment in distributing his various courses between these extremes. Mr. Cooley (Inner Africa Laid Open, p. 6) a “resolute,” and I may add a most successful “reducer of itinerary distances,” estimates that the ordinary day’s journey of the Portuguese missionaries in West Africa never exceeded six geographical miles projected in a straight line, and that on rare occasions, and with effort only, it may have extended to 10 miles. Dr. Lacerda’s porters in East Africa were terrified at the thought of marching ordinarily 2·50 Portuguese leagues, or about 9·33 statute miles per day. Dr. Livingstone gives the exceedingly high maximum of 2·50 to 3 miles an hour in a straight line, but his porters were lightly laden, and the Makololo are apparently a far “gamer” race, more sober and industrious, than the East Africans. Mr. Petherick, H. M.’s Consul at Khartum, estimates his gangs to have marched 3·50 miles per hour, and the ordinary day’s march at 8 hours. It is undoubted that