He did his work in his simple, gentlemanly, scientific way, fully knowing the worth of the mine, but nothing about business. Then, as soon as they had got all his secrets and information from him, they would send their own agent, who in one case pretended that he could not find the spot, purposely avoiding to take the guide Richard had commissioned for the purpose. But the chief speculator did find them, and sell them too, although Richard never got a penny for his trouble. He never knew how to get himself paid without going to law, which they knew was undesirable for a Consul, and, so far from getting anything, very often he was largely out of pocket. He was very much out of pocket about the Guinea Coast Mines, and, had the trial threatened by Mr. Johns come off, I should have asked to have been subpœnaed, as my husband was dead, and I should have produced all the papers and his depositions written before his death, and asked to be refunded his losses. In the Khedivial Mines of Midian he dropped much money in expenses, which Ismail Khedive was to have paid him back, but never did. However, this last only resulted from the accident of abdication, and not with intent to hurt him. The others were men that he ought never to have pitted himself against; that is, pitted the straightforward, unsuspecting ignorance of a gentleman against men who have been bred for generations to know how much percentage they can get out of the fraction of a farthing.

I purposely omit names, as I do not care to hurt anybody unless necessary. These very mines, which I believe Mr. Johns and his Board have been depreciating so much, have been bought by a man who knew the gold mine well, and because of its wealth has acquired it from the natives. He says (1893), "Ever since it was ruined by the weakness of the directors in London, and the utter incapacity or worse of the managers on the Guinea Coast, the natives themselves have been mining it and getting lots of gold out of it, and the writer has just bought it up again." The thing became a failure entirely through incapacity and dishonesty abroad, as will be proved by the success of the mine in proper hands. I had at one time several lumps of quartz with bits of gold sticking out of it, which Richard picked up himself on the property.

About eight weeks before Richard died, he dictated a paper to me, and left papers in my hands which thoroughly prove that he had lost instead of receiving, and that what he did receive was demanded back again; and though not obliged, he did pay it, even his own expenses going out and coming home to make the reports for their benefit, for which he was promised such good payment.[2]

He said West Africa has been called the "White Man's Grave." Bombay and Zanzibar both have had the same reputation, and to sleep ashore was considered certain death; but English officials now live ashore in both, and though no European is fever-proof in Africa, Englishmen who take precautions are pretty healthy. As for labour, if the natives won't undertake it they can get any amount of Indian coolies and Chinese. Richard said, "What Africa wants is an honest man at the head, and machinery;" and almost the last thing that he ever said to me upon business matters was, "Whatever interests I may have in the West Coast of Africa, or in Midian, I mean to stick to, and if you survive me, do you stick to them."

From the Press.

"West African Mines.

"When Sir Richard Burton was invited to go to the Gold Coast in search of the precious metal to which that region owes its name, he is reported to have said, 'Geography is good, but gold is better.' The result of his expedition, in which Commander Cameron took part, was to establish the fact that the Gold Coast still deserves its name, and many attempts have been made of late years to exploit the district. The Governor of the colony has recently sent a very careful report on the gold-mining industry to Lord Knutsford, based to a great extent upon personal observations. The conclusions he arrives at are that the country is rich in gold, and that earnest and well-considered attempts are being made to work the mines, the chief difficulty being the want of labourers, who would have to be imported, probably from China.

"Every two or three years Captain Burton appears like a meteor in London, and in that City of four millions he invariably succeeds in creating a stir. However hurried his visitations, his presence is keenly felt. He wakes up the learned Societies, startles the Geographers, is the hero of banquets, and drops a new book in his wake. As we all know, his early exploits have become a part of the history of our times, and in our annals of discovery or daring there is nothing to beat his work in Africa—tracking the secret sources of Old Nile, or his famous pilgrimage to Mecca. As time goes on, the grass does not grow beneath his feet. A man cannot set the Thames on fire every day, but he has lived to do many wonders. Cast away as he is to the east of Venice, and chained to his post at Trieste—doomed by perverse fate to an isolation that must be almost as irksome as the rock of St. Helena to Napoleon[3]—when he ought to be in some splendid position worthy of his powers, Captain Burton makes the most of leisure and leave of absence. If we do not hear of him and there is no sign, we may be sure he is not losing time. Either he is deep in some hard literary enterprise, such as his recent translation of the epic of Portugal, 'The Lusiads,' or he is off on some fresh quest interesting to science or to the multitude. He has just now returned from his old haunts, West Africa, and he comes this time in his familiar character of Gold-finder."

"Mining on the Gold Coast.

"To the Editor of the Mining World and Engineering Record.

"Sir,—Some months have passed since my last communication. I have had little to say, and was unwilling to intrude upon your valuable space. Now, however, the state of things has changed, and I am compelled once more to apply to you for hospitality.

"It is a pleasure to see the Gold Coast taking its proper place in your columns. The Mining World of November 10th contains three separate notices, highly encouraging to those who, like myself, thoroughly believe in the vast mineral wealth of our ill-fated colony, in the facility of 'getting' the metal, and in the manageability of the climate, which is certainly not worse than was that of Bombay at the beginning of the present century. I remark with satisfaction that the 'debauched, incapable' class, at first sent out, faute de mieux, has been gradually improved off, and that able men are taking its place. Lastly, I am delighted to observe that at least one of the new-comers has proposed to adopt the style of work especially adapted for the Gold Coast, and has determined to preface the good old 'shaft and tunnel' system by pouching the superficial deposits.

"A case in point. One of my correspondents kindly forwarded to me a copy of Mr. Lowman's last report to the directors of the African Gold Coast Syndicate, Limited. This manager, sent out to develop the huge and rich 'Ingotro Concession,' reached Axim only on August 16th. On reaching his destination he was at once informed by Chief Appo that the bottom of the Nánwá Valley, an old lagoon, abounds in gold, 'if we could but only get water out.' After puddling and washing, 'with extra good results,' sundry samples of the clay, he cut on the east bank of the rivulet a drain 350 feet long by 3 feet wide and 2½ feet deep, with a fall of 1 in 80. I may remind you that the stream in question, as shown by Captain Cameron's map, 'snakes' all down its valley, and that ditches from one loop to another would lay bare a great length of bed. Its width varies from 15 to 30 feet; the depth from 18 inches to 6 feet, and it runs all the year round. Mr. Lowman began another drain 400 feet long, to cross-cut the lagoon, which now infects the lower bed of the Nánwá, and which would easily empty into the Ancobra. He proposed to hydraulic with 350 feet of troughs or sluice-boxes, which were all ready for laying, and one Molyneux box (loose hopper, patent riffles, and slide tables), 'the first ever made or used on the Gold Coast.' A sketch of the 'flats' and of the machinery was attached to the report, and I can say nothing except in their praise.

"The lagoon clay to be puddled and 'Molyneux'd' is described as a still, yellow argile, resting upon a hard bottom of quartz pebbles. The cuttings opened up drifts of black sand, considered to be 'highly auriferous' (see the 'Gold Book'), and these were reserved for washing at convenience. The results of panning and cradling on the Nánwá flats, and on the whole line as far as Kitza, yielded samples varying from 4 dwts. to 10 ozs. per cubic yard of stuff. What would California and Australia say to those figures? Mr. Lowman adds, and I believe him, 'There is no property between Axim and Tacquah so well adapted for hydraulicking and alluvial mining in all its branches as the Ingotro Concession. There is plenty of water and a good fall for tailings by simply cutting channels from river bend to bend, and letting them run into one of the deep valleys or carrying them direct to the Ancobra river. Another great advantage is that the Ingotro mines can be worked at one-half the expense of any quartz mine on the coast. Water here will do the work of steam with half the number of hands. The whole of the Nánwá Valley is auriferous, good payable ground, which would take sixty to seventy years to work out, without touching the quartz.' Now we come to what will greatly benefit the climate, the only weak point noted at Ingotro by Cameron and myself. 'An absolute necessary piece of work will be to clear the river banks and to remove the trees which have fallen across the bed. We must also do away with (N.B.—I hope after panning) the large silted-up banks of sand and gravel which have accumulated in the river bends, causing the stream to overflow and to swamp the low lands, after each little freshet. Some of the banks, four to five feet high and fifteen across, are perfect natural dams. The work should not occupy more than three or four months.'

"The first thing which struck me on the Gold Coast was a conviction that its 'nullah beds' will supply the greatest quantity of metal for the least possible expenditure. The late M. Bounat, a Frenchman, who taught Englishmen the value of their colony on the Guinea Gulf, began (as I related in the 'Gold Book,' ii. 360) with the intention of dredging the Ancobra river for dust and nuggets. And he was right. Every little rivulet bed in the land must be ransacked before the hills are washed down by hydraulicking; and the sooner the 'steam navvy' appears upon the scene the better.

"Mr. Lowman evidently took good counsel, and, not being a consulting engineer, was not above taking a lesson from 'Chief Appo.' You may imagine my vexation on hearing that he had been recalled for 'want of funds.' Want of funds! Why, three months' work and a few hundred pounds would have enabled him to wash gold enough for paying all the labour he requires. Surely the directors of 'Ingotro' must see this as clearly as I do. It is a sorry time to draw back when standing upon the very verge of a grand discovery. I would state, in your pages, my certainty that such is the case; and if the Nánwá project fail, I would subside into a 'mere traveller,' as a booby acquaintance kindly described me.

"Excuse the length of this letter—the importance of the subject amply justifies it.

"I am, etc.,

"Richard Burton.

"Trieste, Austria, November 26th."

"To the Editor of the Mining World and Engineering Record.

"Sir,—You should have heard from me before had not petite santé stood in the way of good intentions. Life in a little Mediterranean harbour-town makes one almost look forward to leaving the world in view of some extensive explorations beyond the world.

"My letters from the Gold Coast are cheering. Captain Cameron and Mr. Walsten are doing prime work. The former is being supplied with funds, an essential point which I cannot urge too strongly upon the two companies for whom he is now labouring. The 'present and future' of the Gold Coast mainly depends upon his success.

"Many thanks to Mr. Louis F. Gowan for his 'pile of experience' about Chinese coolies. This is what we want—familiarity with the subject, not more dogmatism. And the question is whether Chinamen in Africa would be the 'pig-tailed cut-throats' described by Mr. Gowan. I did not find them so in Bombay, San Francisco, and Peru.

"On the other hand, I am in nowise edified by the dogmatism displayed at the annual meeting of the Guinea Gold Coast Mining Company. A chairman is hardly expected to be an expert, but he must not address his shareholders as if he were a high authority. I read: 'Now, gentlemen, hydraulic sluicing are very easy words to pronounce, but it is a deuced hard operation to perform.' After some exceedingly useless statements about hydraulicking in Australia, he continues: 'The directors took the best advice they could, namely, that of your consulting engineer, and he was opposed to it. He said, "It is quite true that if your country is impregnated with gold, and if you have got great results everywhere by assay, it is advisable, but you have not got any here (!), and therefore it would be very unwise expenditure."' The chairman concludes, 'We were bound then to take the opinion of an expert against the opinion of Captain Burton on that point, because otherwise you would have real reason for blaming us.'

"This is really too bad for the unfortunate shareholders, who have only £15,000 left wherewith to carry on the work. Their property is cut by two streamlets, and these have never even been tested for gold. I have still to learn what experience of mining is possessed by the consulting engineer; but that he has a complete ignorance of Africa, I well know. Every writer on the Gold Coast from Bosman to Swanzy tells him that the land is impregnated with gold. He says it is not. As regards his management, it is enough to wreck any company. He recommended a person who reported in his cups that he could find no gold. I am waiting to see how his second protégé turns out; present reports are the reverse of favourable, and if number two fail like number one, I shall offer you a suggestion of my own concerning management on the Gold Coast.

"Against these miserable theories let us see what is the language of actual experience. To begin with Mr. Edward Smith's report on the Kitzia Concession:—'When going up the creek from the native village, I saw fourteen native women washing alluvial soil in the bed of the creek; and, on inquiring as to the result of their washing, Mr. Grant, the interpreter, told me they were making six shillings each per day. The stuff they were washing was from the surface of the side of the hill hard by. The creek could be turned, and a water-race brought alongside of the hill, so as to command the surface and to ground-sluice this portion of the property with good paying results.' Such is the hydraulicking recommended by me; but, apparently, where native women succeed, consulting engineers expect only failure. I must say with Abernethy, 'Read my book!' And that is not all. Captain Cameron writes to me from Axim, 'I shall get very good washing by the engine (i.e. without expensive leats or water-races), and think about ten or twelve shillings to the ton. I have over thirty feet fall for the sluices, which will give me three hundred and sixty feet (if necessary) of boxes.' I reported to you what my friend declared in a former letter, that he could wash down a whole hillside.

"In conclusion, I hope that the shareholders, after comparing the statements of fact and theory, will insist upon their engineers abandoning the old humdrum, beaten track; and will compel them, whether they like it or not, to send home gold washed from the surface.

"I am, etc.,

"R. F. Burton.

"Trieste, Austria, April 20th, 1883."

From Mining Journal, February 5th, 1887.

"West African Gold Mines.

"To the Editor of the Mining Journal.

"Sir,—I have been surprised that these West African properties have not been brought to the front during the present excitement in gold-mining affairs, for that the gold is there is beyond all question. I do not forget that several of the companies which started a few years ago came to grief, but the cause of this was well known to be mismanagement and misfortune—forces which would ruin the best scheme in the world. But that these are going to prevent success in West Africa for ever I fail to believe. Let us look for a moment at what has really been going on quietly during the past twelve months there, and I think we shall see cause for much hopefulness in the near future. The Wassau Mining Company's monthly report is now before me. The crushing for twenty-two days in November gave 232 ozs., which netted the sum of £894 19s. in London, after deducting freight and expenses. This is at the rate of £1220 per month of thirty days. Their monthly expenses, I believe, are now somewhere about £500. This shows a profit at the rate of over £8000 a year, or 8 per cent. on the capital, and much more than this is a mere question of machinery. The manager reports on December 1: 'If anything, the mine looks better than ever.' The French Company have reorganized their affairs, and a large and able staff left England on January 1st. Their property, at a depth of 40 feet, gives an average yield of 17½ dwts. per ton in a south-west direction, and in a north-east direction it gives 21 dwts. At 63 feet it gives 2 ozs. 15 dwts., and in Bonnat's shaft, at 83 feet, it yields 5 ozs. 13 dwts. per ton. With figures like these one may fairly ask, Where are the East Indian mines? Where, even, are the Queensland properties? The Swanzy Estates Company, a private enterprise, carefully and economically managed, have been working for upwards of two years, on a property which, though not so rich as the others, is none the less likely to pay handsomely, as the quantity of mineral in sight is enormous, and it can be worked at a mere nominal cost, in consequence of its position. They are receiving regular returns, and the owners are more than satisfied. Cinnamon Bippo, another private property, equally well and economically worked, has at least one lode a mile in length, the average assay from which, over its entire distance, gives 2¼ ozs. to the ton, and by actual crushing of about 300 tons it has yielded 1 oz. 8 dwts. per ton, at an estimated profit of seventy shillings per ton. With improved machinery and appliances, the owners are satisfied that they will get about 2 ozs. per ton, and the quantity of ore is absolutely unlimited. I now turn to your issue of Saturday last, and draw attention to the report on Essaman. Mr. Harvey says, respecting the Prestea reef, 'I have discovered that this is only a portion of an auriferous belt over 200 ft. thick. The cross-cut has been driven through the belt to cut the reef, so there is proof undeniable of what I state, and, moreover, the whole is permeated with auriferous veins of quartz. Who knows but that some day or other this hill may be opened and worked as a quarry? Believe me, we know little of the wealth of Africa.' Mr. Harvey reports the main reef to be 10 feet thick at the point where driving will be commenced, and the average samples taken right through confirm his previous estimate of about 2 ozs. per ton. Mr. Harvey is right; we know little of the wealth of Africa, but it will not be much longer concealed.

"Pseudonym.

"January 31st, 1887."

I quote this prematurely, because it finishes the subject:

"An Explanation.

"Mr. W. J. Johns has called our attention to a very important letter respecting the Guinea Coast Company, Limited, which has been received from Sir Richard F. Burton. This letter would have been read by Mr. Johns to the shareholders of that company who assembled at last week's meeting, but no opportunity presented itself for him to do so. Many misstatements were made at that gathering respecting Mr. Johns and other gentlemen connected with the company, which in a really deliberative assembly, anxious only for the facts, might have been set aside. The letter of Sir Richard Burton (an old correspondent of the Mining World) tells its own tale. It is as follows:—

"'Hôtel Windsor, Cannes, January 25th, 1887.

"'I am greatly scandalized at seeing the papers crammed with the falsest statements about the property of the Guinea Coast Company.

"'Two great points require emphatic contradiction. The first is, that the place is a swamp; the second, that it contains no gold.

"'As regards both these statements I have only to bring in as evidence my own book, "To the Gold Coast for Gold," and I am ready to maintain every word therein printed.

"'The place, so far from being a swamp, struck me as peculiarly healthy, and the condition of the natives proved that such was the case.

"'As regards the gold, I noted in my book that Captain Cameron and I were unable to descend into the native shafts on account of their being full of water. But the number and extent of these diggings told their own tale, and I need hardly repeat that auriferous quartz reefs are only nibbed by the country people.

"'It would be impossible for me to be in England as early as the 24th of next month, but I have written to my friend and fellow-traveller, Commander Cameron, whose opinion of the mines and mine were identical, to print in some leading papers our distinct and emphatic denial of the two falsehoods above noticed, which have been unblushingly foisted upon the public.

"'(Signed) Richard F. Burton.'"

CHAPTER IX.

ANOTHER SHORT LEAVE TO LONDON.

1882.

The bombardment of Alexandria was on the 11th and 12th of July, 1882, and he was very much excited and interested about this, and he wrote a long history of what ought to be done for Egypt. Lady Fitzgerald (Lord Houghton's eldest daughter) arrived from Egypt about this time, and was the centre of attraction, both official and private, as she was able to tell us all about it. I left my Indian Christmas book with Mr. Bogue on the 7th of July, and never saw it after. We went to Sir Frederick Leighton's Academy party, to Mrs. Childers's, and Lady Wilson's ball.

Richard went to Paris on the 15th of July, 1882, and I followed him on the 22nd, taking my niece Blanche Pigott with me, and joined Richard and Captain Cameron. We saw a great deal of the traveller De Brazza and his brother, and on the 26th we bid good-bye to Cameron, and we three left for Turin, where our niece, who was for the first time in Italy, enjoyed the scene of the Piazza and Castle by moonlight, and a drive up to the Superga. The next day we arrived in Venice. There is always something amusing to people who have seen everything themselves, in taking a fresh young girl about, as long as she is fresh. She was just out of her convent, and Richard and I, having no children, thought it rather fun having a daughter. We arrived on the last day of July.

Nothing was talked of but the émeute. Some Italians had thrown a bomb as an Austrian regiment was passing, but it did not go off till the wrong moment, so only a policeman's hand was crushed, and our poor friend Dr. Dorn, of the Triester Zeitung, had his leg shattered, was carried home in a pitiable state, and months after I saw the large pieces of bone that had come out of his leg. There were four men concerned in the throwing of the bombs, the chief of which was one Oberdank, a deserter from the 22nd Regiment of Infantry; they were taken at Ronchi. This had the effect of driving everybody away from the Exhibition. The people who had come from foreign parts to exhibit, swore they would not stay, that they did not feel safe, and they wanted to pack up their things. The Exhibition was always empty, which, of course, was the object of the Italians. Blanche and I went down one morning, and we saw everything most beautifully, for there were not twenty people in it.

Then the Baron Morpurgo told us that every night the bands were playing, and the ices and refreshments always waiting, but that nobody ever came; and they went round and collected a few friends who would have the courage to go in the evening. Richard and I and Blanche willingly started off in their boat at night, to go and hear the band, to eat ices, and enjoy the illuminations; but as soon as we really began to enjoy ourselves, a telegram was handed to the Morpurgos that the town was in émeute; so they all jumped up, even the old Baron, who was very brave and active, and said, "That must be our people, and we will go down and have the gates of the old town (Ghetto) shut, and let them calm down; they shall not get into the town, and that will stop the mischief; and you," he said to us, "don't attempt to go back through the town, but go round in the boat and land just under your own windows, and get in that way," which we did. I was again sent off, early August, for my second summer to Maríenbad—three are the usual course (and Richard went to Monfalcone for his gout baths)—where Blanche and I enjoyed ourselves very much in a quiet way. We walked, drove, read, studied German, made excursions, saw again Madame de Novikoff, and went to the little German plays, which were very amusing. There came Mr. and Mrs. Campbell-Bannerman, Mr. Robert Bourke (Lord Connemara), Mrs. and Miss Baldock, and Captain Bury. The band was the same as last year and quite exquisite. We had a very nice collection of people, and formed a pleasant little table at feeding time. I was not sorry when it was over, on the 9th September, to start again for Vienna, and on the 11th to go down to Trieste, for it never agreed with me.

I could not resist writing the following during my cure:—

"Captain Burton.

"To the Editor of Vanity Fair.

"Dear Vanity,—It was very kind and nice of you to have noticed us in your paper, but, if I may make an observation, I should like to have had the rose without the thorn. The article is likely to make the public think that Captain Burton is living on the fat of the land at public expense, and doing nothing to earn it. I do not want any one to put the 'evil eye' upon the poor hard-earned little £600 a year—well earned by forty years' hard toil in the public service. It is true that Government has sometimes, but not often, spared him for a few months at a time to do larger works, which have been for more general public benefit and wider extended good; but all the journeys quoted in Vanity have been undertaken between his various posts, when he has been out of employment, or during the usually allowed leave that other men spend in Pall Mall. On all the occasions when he has had 'leave' as above, he has gone voluntarily on half-pay those few months. If any one grudges us our pittance, and will inquire in Africa, Brazil, Damascus, or Trieste, they will find that at no time, of those or any other months, has a single detail of Consular work been omitted, or neglected, or performed by incompetent or ordinary subordinates, whilst every penny of public money was nervously accounted for. They will learn that we have ever given double of what we have received; that every one of our four Consulates has been a credit to the Government; that the English of our district have always been proud of their Consul and Consulate; that foreigners are always on most friendly terms with them, and the authorities intimately so. If this be so, will not what you call an 'Amateur Consul' do quite as well as the other sort, whatever that may be? You are, however, my dear Vanity, mistaken on another point. The higher the post and the more important the duties, the greater is the ambition to discharge them nobly. How much more keenly would one feel as an Eastern diplomat, for instance, than settling a dispute between the cook and the mate of a merchant vessel, or signing passports? Your 'Series' writer must have dipped his pen in vinegar and gall when he wrote about the 'much-prized posts.'

"I am, my dear Vanity, yours obediently,

"Isabel Burton.

"Hôtel Klinger, Maríenbad, Bohemia,

"September 1st, 1882."

The Dowager Lady Galway and Count and Countess della Sala, also General Francis, arrived at Trieste for the Exhibition, which was a very great pleasure to us. The Emperor and Empress and the Prince and Princess now announced their intention of doing good to the Exhibition by coming to visit it; there was a grand reception prepared, bands of music, the houses decorated, the ships dressed, flags and triumphal arches, salutes of artillery, and shouts of "Eviva!" girls in white, and flowers to strew, and at night illuminations. The first evening there was a grand theatre night with the ballet "Excelsior," and the applause when the Imperial party entered was deafening, and lasted fully a quarter of an hour. Next day was the Exhibition. The Baron Morpurgo had prepared a splendid fête on board the Berenice. The City was illuminated, so was the ship, and all the cream of Trieste was present. Every moment the Emperor and Empress were expected, and we all fell into our places in lines, through which they were to pass; several times they were announced, and several times did we retire and sit down again.

At last the Imperial boat actually arrived, and went several times round the Berenice and steamed away again. The disappointment and mortification of the truly loyal givers of the fête may easily be imagined; but it was perhaps as well, if the stories current next day had only a shadow of truth in them. It was commonly talked about afterwards that, unknown to the givers of the fête, the vessel had been observed to be much lower in the water than she ought to be, through somebody having taken out some plug that ought to have been in it, which caused a very gradual sinking. It was suspected that amongst the workmen one had been bought, just as in Nihilist cases, and that the moment the Imperial party had set foot in the ship, that they, and of course all of us, were to be blown into the air by a dynamite clock, and the Chief of Police had begged—perhaps had had some intimation that there was something uncanny somewhere—the Imperial family not to sup on board. True or untrue, these were the stories on the morrow. Anyway, none of the authorities dared go to bed, or hardly breathe, as long as the Imperial family remained in the neighbourhood. It appeared there were bombs across the railway, bombs in the Exhibition, bombs in the boats, and bombs in the sausages; at least, that was the state of feeling in Trieste during those three days, and I should think the Imperial family must have been immensely glad when they saw the last of the town, and got out of the Irredentista country. The next day was the Arsenal inspection, a launch, and a boat serenade at night to Miramar. On the 20th they went, arrived in safety, and everybody breathed again.

On the 18th of September, Richard began his great book on the Sword. It is a very large work, entitled the "Book of the Sword"—the first part of three by R. F. Burton, maître d'armes, which appeared in 1884. The first part brought the sword, the prehistoric weapon, up to the Middle Ages. The second would have been the mediæval sword, and the third would have brought all the modern schools up to date, with illustrations.

At this time Richard took it into his head to interfere with my department—the maid-servants—and he sent away my cook and got one of his own. He said to me (quite with a knowing nod of the head), "The ne plus ultra of Trieste;" so the first morning, when cooking our twelve o'clock meal, she asked for a bottle of wine. I should have refused it to my own cook, but I had to give it her, and when she drank that, she had another. She then hit the kitchenmaid over the head with the saucepan, and, being a very powerful woman, she threw the housemaid into the scaffa (sink). Hearing screams, I ran into the kitchen, and then she went for me, but instead of throwing me out of the window, she threw her arms round my neck and said I was an angel. "All the same," I said, "I think you must go, and I should like to settle up with you at once." I went and asked Richard humbly if the "ne plus ultra" was to be kept; and he said, "Certainly not—the brute!" and he came and turned her out there and then, and sent her wages after her. So I said very quietly and seriously, "Now, Jemmy, I have got to cook the breakfast myself; won't you go out and find me another cook?" "No," said he, laughing; "I think I have had quite enough of that."

Richard started by the first steamer, and proceeded according to orders. I remember the last thing I said to him was, "Mind, if they are really dead, don't be put like a ferret into a hole to bring out the dead bodies" (for I remembered how economical England is, and that, whatever other men have had, Richard had never been given either money or men for any exploit); "that won't be worth while." He said, "If they are dead, no; but if there is a chance of saving dear old Palmer, I will go anywhere and do anything." On the road he met Gordon. Meantime Sir Charles Warren was scouring the country, well supported with money, and with two hundred picked men, and by the time Richard got there, he may be said to have nearly completed the task.

He describes Ghazzeh as a miserable, God-forgotten hole.

The trial of Arábi was going on, and Egypt was in great excitement in consequence. Richard was only absent six weeks and a half, returning in December. He wrote an account of all he had seen there, and the story of Palmer, and the state of Egypt, and he sent it to a magazine at once, which sent it back. He sent it round to many places, and I cannot remember now whether he ever got it printed, but certainly too late to have the fresh interest it ought to have had.[1]

It is curious to remember now, how frequently he used to send the most important articles, of vital use to the World, to the Press, and get them sent back with compliments and thanks, to say they would not suit such a paper or such a magazine, and how he frequently went from one publisher to another with his most invaluable books. It was one of the things that used to make us both boil with rage, and now there has been a storm throughout the whole Press Universe for twenty-two months because I burnt a book which was the least valuable, nay, the only book he ever wrote that was not valuable to the world. Such are the waves and whims of public opinion.

It was the last journey he ever took that might be called an Expedition, and even that was not what it was meant to be, since he found another man (Sir Charles Warren) in the field, who did not want to be much interfered with. I was awfully glad to get him back again so soon, I need not say.

After having prepared Richard for his journey to Egypt and seeing him off, I went up to Opçina with Blanche, drove over to Duino to see the Princesses Hohenlöhe, and on to Gorizia (German Görz), where we went into a Convent, I wishing to make what we Catholics call a "spiritual retreat." It was November weather; our rooms were very cold, and naturally poorly furnished, as becomes convent cells. There was a church attached to the house, and Padre Bankich, a Dalmatian Jesuit, was our director. My niece would give a very amusing, though sad account of this expedition, but I do not think it has anything to do with the story. When we came out of retreat we made a delightful picnic-pilgrimage to the Monte Santo before alluded to. It is a most charming expedition, and the view repays the climb. Before leaving Gorizia I attended to our branch Society for Protection of Cruelty to Animals, and had two little rooms built for the lassoed dogs. We then returned to Opçina. There was a splendid comet at this time. On return to Opçina we gave a dinner-party to our friends at Trieste, and we (women) dressed like mandriere (the peasants' costume on fête-days).