.

IVORY.
'Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus, Another thing to fall.
One of the peculiarities of Africa yet to be explained is the almost supernatural rapidity with which rumour travels.

Across the whole breadth of this darkest continent a mere bit of gossip has made its way in a month.

A man may divulge a secret, say, at St.Paul de Loanda, take ship to Zanzibar, and there his own secret will be told to him.
Rumour met Maurice Gordon almost at the outset of his journey northward.
"Small-pox is raging on the Ogowe River," they told him.

"The English expedition is stricken down with it.