an. a6, 1876.-1
t W en ya . J
of the creek, and by night the boat and canoes
were in the water and out of danger.
The next day, while descending this creek
we were attacked both from front and rear, and
almost the Whole of the afternoon we were
occupied in defending a rude camp we had
hastily thrown up, while our non-combatants lay
sheltered by a high bank and our canoes. Towards
sunset the savages retired.
On the morning of the 28th we resumed our
labours with greater energy, and by 10 A.M. we
were clear of the last of the Stanley Falls, thus
closing a series of desperate labours, which had
occupied us from the 5th January, a period of
twenty-three days, during the nights and days of
which we had been beset by the perverse cannibals
and insensate savages who have made the
islands amid the cataracts their fastnesses, and
now
“ Our troubled thoughts to distant prospects leap,
Desirous still what flies us to o'ertake j
For hope is but the dream of those that wake.
But looking back we see the dreadful train
Of woes anew, which were we to sustain,
We should refuse to tread the path again.”
CHAPTER IX.
Again ifi Open water Frank Pocock feels the position —
The Mburra or Yaryembi — A running fight — “Ya-Mariwa!
Ya-Mariwa!” — Our tactics of capture — Monster spears
— Growing weary of fighting for life — The power of
laughter — Fish creeks — A Wasp swarm of canoes —
Another invincible armada — A Village of ivory — Relics
of cannibal feasts — The Wefié of Sehweinfurth —- Hunted
to despair — Their meat escapes the cannibals — Wild
nature — Among friendly natives — The Congo!
(January 28—February 8, 1877.)
We hastened away down river in a hurry, to
escape the noise of the cataracts which, for
many days and nights, had almost stunned us
with their deafening sound.
The Livingstone now deflected to the west-
north-west, between hilly banks—
“Where highest woods, impenetrable
To star, or sunlight, spread their umbrage broad
And brown as evening.”
We are once again afloat upon a magnificent
stream, whose broad and grey-brown waters
woo us with its mystery. We aré not a whit
dejected after our terrible experiences; we find
our reward in being alive to look upon wild