Page:The Romance of Isabel, Lady Burton.djvu/298

266 especially those who are not in clover like us, I could not live for six months. As it is, I do not think I have lost anything, except one's skin darkens from the sun, and one feels weak from the heat; but I could recover in six months in England.

"When I got the cholera, it was three in the morning. I thought I was dying, so I got up, went to my desk and settled all my worldly affairs, carried my last instructions to Kier in her bed, put on my clothes, and went out to confession and communion."

", December 22, 1866.

"I have come down to Rio again to try and sell a book of Richard's, and am still at work about the gold concession. Richard is travelling (with leave) in the interior. I accompanied Richard part of the way on his travels. We parted on a little mountain with a church on the top—a most romantic spot. He started with two companions, three horse-boys, and a long string of mules. I rode my black horse, and returned alone with one mounted slave. We had fearful weather all the time, torrents of tropical rain, thunder and lightning, and our horses were often knee-deep in the slush and mud. You cannot imagine how beautiful the forests are. The trees are all interlaced with beautiful creepers, things that would be cultivated in a hot-house, and then be a failure, and all wild, tangled, and luxuriant, and in a virgin forest; you must force your horse through these to make your way.

"You need not be frightened about me and my riding, though every one says I am sure to be thrown