At length, on the 12th of September, she arrived at Tamatave; broken-down
and unutterably weary and worn, but still alive. Ill as she was, she
gladly embarked on board a ship which was about to sail for the
Mauritius; and reaching that pleasant island on the 22nd, met with a
hearty welcome from her friends--to whom, indeed, she was as one who had
been dead and was alive again.
The mental and physical sufferings she had undergone, combined with the
peculiar effects of the fever, now brought on an illness of so serious a
character that for long the doctors doubted whether her recovery was
possible. On her sixtieth birthday, the 14th of October, they pronounced
the brave lady out of danger; but, in fact, her constitution had received
a fatal shock. The fever became intermittent in its attacks, but it
never wholly left her; though she continued, with unabated energy and
liveliness, to lay down plans for fresh expeditions. She had made all
her preparations for a voyage to Australia, when a return of her disease,
in February 1858, compelled her to renounce her intention, and to direct
her steps homeward.
Early in the month of June she arrived in London, where she remained for
a few weeks. Thence she repaired to Berlin.
Her strength was now declining day by day, though at first she seemed to
regard her illness as only temporary, and against the increasing physical
weakness her mind struggled with its usual activity.
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