We now parted with our Kroomen, as, from their inability to march, we could not use them in our land journeys.

A crew was picked out from the Makololo, who, besides being good travellers, could cut wood, work the ship, and required only native food.
While at the Kongone it was found necessary to beach the steamer for repairs.

She was built of a newly invented sort of steel plates, only a sixteenth of an inch in thickness, patented, but unfortunately never tried before.

To build an exploring ship of untried material was a mistake.

Some chemical action on this preparation of steel caused a minute hole; from this point, branches like lichens, or the little ragged stars we sometimes see in thawing ice, radiated in all directions.