.1883. perhaps two hundred feet above the river, appear to
•No t. 28, # ^ Jr Jr v
Yangambi. offer a charming field for European agriculturists. The
slopes are delightfully fresh and green, and where the
red bluffs rise, they are overhung by verdant masses
•of shrubbery. The left bank opposite is a flat and
level land, with far extended clearings; it is a land
for sugar cane, cotton, rice, maize, and millet. The
right hank above the ridge is a land for wheat, being
=at a dry and healthy altitude.
A few miles above the red sandstone cliffs of Tugar-
ambusa are Ituka, Yaruche, and Yaryembi, or rather
were, for at this time mere relics of settlements were
shown. And yet I remember well their rampant
multitudes on the banks and in the canoe flotillas
worrying our force in 1877 with the courage of yelping
terriers. Both, banks were now empty of their peoples,
they were abandoned to the silence of absolute solitude.
Soon after rounding. the point of Yaryembi, we
view before -us a straight twelveTmile reach. On the
right bank there are three abandoned settlements, and
on the left there' are five, mere empty clearings. The
river varies from 800 to 1600 yards wide, with a strong
hut steady current. The banks are nearly uniform,
from ten to thirty feet high, woods alternating with
open sites of towns.
Yarukombe on the right, and a similar town of the
same name on the left, stood once at the upper end of
the reach.
On the 30th of November our course from 8 a .m . to
1 p .m . was along the right hank in a channel caused
by the large and fertile island called Busanga, which
I -remember to have been occupied by . a tribe of . the BaSanga.
Ya^usu. Now, however, not one hut is seen. Even
the clearings where the huts stood can scarcely be
found. All the villages on the mainland have been
utterly destroyed, and there is not one native of a
powerful tribe to tell the tale of the massacres.
At 2 p .m . we arrived at the .twin-mouthed river
Ohofu, each channel having a breadth of about 200
yards, divided by an island whose base line is three
miles long.
My guide, who has been up the river marauding,
states that it is navigable for about twenty-five miles,
when a confluence of two branches is seen, both interrupted
by rapids. The left branch is called the
Lukebu; the right branch being the Lmdi. The
Wenya procure their large canoes from this river in
exchange for heaps of cured fish.
I t rained abundantly on the evening of the 30th, but
about 8 a.m. on the 1st of December the skies cleared,
and we were enabled to continue our voyage.
We steamed up for about four miles along the right
bank, when we struck across the river to the left bank,
barely avoiding a small rapid. We held on until noon,
when we were abreast of a small island in N. Lat. 0° 30'.
We were advised to cling close to the left bank as far
as the point nearest the Falls, to avoid ■ frightening
the people with the sight of such a flotilla. Arriving
below this point, we detached the whale-boat, and sent
it up with the guide and one of my servants to speak