the air of gladiators, and we applauded them heartily, but
enjoined on them to be careful. Then I turned to the crowd
on the shore who were manning the cables, and bade them
beware of the least carelessness, as the lives of the three;
young men depended on their attention to the orders that I
would be given.
“ The two young volunteers were requested to paddle across
river, so that the stern might be guided by those on shore. !
The bow and side cables were slackened until the canoe i
was within twenty yards of the roaring falls, and Uledi endeavoured
to guide the cable to Zaidi, but the convulsive j
heaving of the river swept the canoe instantly to one side,
where it hovered over the steep slope and brown waves of]
the left branch, from the swirl of which we were compelled
to draw it Five times the attempt was made, but at last,]
the sixth time, encouraged by the safety of the cables, we
lowered the canoe until it was within ten yards of Zaidi, and]
Uledi lifted the short cable and threw it over to him and
struck his arm. He had just time to grasp it before he was
carried over into the chasm below. For thirty seconds we]
saw nothing of him, and thought him lost, when his head rose!
above the edge of the falling waters. Instantly the word was
given to ‘ haul away,’ but at the first pull the bow and side
cables parted, and the canoe began to glide down the left j
branch with my two boat-boys on board! The stern cable
next parted, and, horrified at the result, we stood muttering
‘La il Allah, il Allah,’ watching the canoe severed from usj
drifting to certain destruction, when we suddenly observed it
halted. Zaidi in the chasm clinging to his cable was acting
as a kedge-anchor, which swept the canoe against the rocky
islet Uledi and Marzouk sprang out of the canoe, and lean,
ing over assisted Zaidi out of the falls, and the three, working
with desperate energy, succeeded in securing the canoe
on the islet.
“ But though we hurrahed and were exceedingly rejoiced,
their position was still but a short reprieve from death. There
rian. 14.1877-1 A MIRACULOUS ESCAPE.
[ Utunduru. J
ere fifty yards of wild waves, and a resistless rush of water,
between them and safety, and to the right of them was a fall
o0 yards in width, and bdlow was a mile of falls and rapids,
^nd great whirlpools, and waves rising like little hills in the
middle of the terrible stream, and below these were the fell
can n ib a ls of Wane-Mukwa and Asama.
“How to reach the islet was a question which now perplexed
me. We tied a stone to about a hundred yards of
whipcord, and after the twentieth attempt they managed to
catch it. To the end of the whipcord they tied the tent rope
1 vhich had parted before, and drawing it to our side we tied
the stout rattan creeper, which they drew across taut, and
fastened to a rock, by which we thought we had begun to
bridge the stream. But night drawing nigh, we said to them
that we would defer further experiment until morning.
“Meantime the ninth canoe, whose steersman was a supernumerary
of the boat, had likewise got upset, and he out of
six men was drowned, to our great regret, but the canoe was
saved. All other vessels were brought down safely, but so
j long as my poor faithful Uledi' and his friends are on the
islet, and still in the arms of death, the night finds us gloomy,
sorrowing, and anxious.
! “ January 14. — My first duty this morning was to send
greetings to the three brave lads on the islet, and to assure
them that they should be saved before they were many hours
older. Thirty men with guns were sent to protect thirty other
men searching for rattans in the forest, and by nine o’clock
we possessed over sixty strong canes, besides other long
climbers, and as fast as we were able to twist them together
they were drawn across by Uledi and his friends. Besides,
we sent light cables to be lashed round the waist of each
man, after which we felt trebly assured that all accidents
were guarded against. Then hailing them I motioned to Uledi
to begin, while ten men seized the cable, one end of which
he had fastened round his waist. Uledi was seen to lift his
hands up to heaven, and waving his hand to us he leaped