Niger

All was ready. The canoe, transformed into
^ • a ‘ schooner ’ forty feet long and six feet
broad, was of ample size to hold a hundred men.
Mungo and Bolton had patched its rents and
stocked it with provisions. Two soldiers and a
carpenter still survived. But the latter was out
of his mind, and useless either in helping to keep
the schooner Joliba afloat, or in helping to sail it.
Martyn, in excellent health, was indifferent and
insubordinate. The impartial historian has his
sympathies with Martyn, who had looked on the
ruthlessness of Mungo all the way from the coast, but
himself refused immolation. As Isaaco was returning
to the coast, Mungo engaged another guide, one
Amadi Fatoumi, to journey with them as far as
Houssaland, beyond Timbuctoo. Then he pur¬
chased two slaves to help with the Joliba and sat
down to write his last letters to England.
He sent his Journal back with Isaaco for trans¬
mission to the Colonial Office. He wrote a short
cold note to Anderson in Selkirk, and one equally
stilted to Banks in London. His was no condition
or mood for superlatives or excuses. Only in
Ailie’s letter did the mood soften a little :
‘ Sansanding, igth November, 1805.
1 It grieves me to the heart to write anything that may
give you uneasiness ; but such is the will of Him who
doeth all things well! Your brother Alexander, my dear
299