through a channel about 150 feet broad. The sight is most
imposing: the river rushes wildly between two banks of
basaltic rocks of the purest black and polished like steel.
Until we reached Tete it rained for at least an hour
every day, and generally more; as a rule we were soaked
through at night. The country was hilly, varied by
swamps, and the number of times we had to cross rivers
that happened to be • in the way was heartbreaking.
G o r g e o f K e b r a B a c a .
One day especially rain came down in such torrents that
the footpath soon became a rushing .river, with a bed of
several inches of peculiarly sticky mud. I stopped most
conscientiously by the way to take observations, and of
course fell much behind the party in doing so. Things;
•were bad enough until we reached a small valley, where
the water was running in a great number of small but
deep sluits at the rate of a good five miles an hour.
The first two I crossed on the shoulders of a man, but
in the third my bearer slipped, and we both rolled into
the water. Being quite soaked through I took no further
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trouble about. myself, ~ and waded through all the other
sluits till I overtook the Governor and his suite at a
regular small torrent. - All had; crossed except the doctor.
He was not a man of great stature, and as those who had
got over had had to wade waist-deep, he was not certain
how he should proceed. After much painful hesitation he
got astride of the bamboo from which his machilla was
slung—-in which position he reminded me of a monkey on
a stick—and was ferried across safely though without
much dignity. I did the same. About eight hours after
TH E GOVERNOR'S CARAVAN.
our start we reached a series of small villages, at one of
which we stopped; I found the Governor and most of his
companions gathered in a hut, looking like drowned rats.
To add to the general misery the porters had not arrived,
and we had no change of clothes. So we all stripped to
the costume of our first father, and huddled ourselves up
in the hut round a smoky fire. It continued to rain
abominably all day, and we could not dry our clothes,
so we remained in the simple costume I have described
until night. It was not the happiest position that can
be imagined for preserving the dignity of a Governor.
The next day, however, things were not so bad; we
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