. All more or less suffered; nothing but
muttering, delirium, or suppressed groans were heard on board the
vessels. Nearly every person, even those unattacked, complained of the
enervating effects of the climate. On the 18th of September the number
of the sick had increased to sixty, and many had died. Captain Trotter
now decided to send back the _Soudan_ to the sea with the sick on board,
under the command of Lieutenant Fishbourne. The medical officer being
of opinion, however, that by ascending higher up the river a more
healthy climate would be reached, resolved to proceed in that direction
in the _Albert_, while the _Wilberforce_ also returned to the coast.
There appeared every prospect of the expedition proving a blessing to
the long-benighted inhabitants on either bank of the mighty stream--but
Providence ordered it otherwise. In spite of the heroic courage
displayed by all the naval officers employed, Captain Trotter was at
last compelled to order the ship's head to be put down the stream, and
on his arrival at the coast, as the only chance of saving his fife, the
medical officers ordered his return to England.

Notwithstanding the fearful loss of life which had already been
incurred, Commander William Allen, now senior officer of the expedition,
hearing that Mr Carr, the superintendent of the model farm, had been
murdered, and that the people were in danger of an attack from the
surrounding natives, resolved at once again to ascend the river. He was
on the point of starting, when H.M. steamer _Kite_ arrived with
despatches stopping all further explorations. He was, however, directed
to send one of the steamers with a black crew, and only the number of
white people and officers necessary to navigate her, to bring away the
people from the model farm. Lieutenant Webb at once volunteered, and
succeeded in carrying out his instructions, with the loss, unhappily, of
Mr Webb, clerk in charge, and Mr Waddmgton, boatswain, a fine specimen
of the British seaman, all the rest of the whites suffering also from
fever. Such was the unhappy termination of an expedition undertaken
with the most noble and philanthropic objects in view, and which, had it
not been for the deadly climate, must, from the determination and zeal
of all those engaged, have been fully successful.

CHAPTER NINETEEN.

WARFARE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY--FROM A.D. 1845 TO A.D. 1900.

Rarely has England been called on to interfere in any of