at 9 A.M., bringing three goats and twenty loaves
of cassava bread and a few tubers, and an hour
afterwards Nchuvira, king of Nkunda, Mankoneh
chief of the Bateke fishermen near the Stanley
Pool, and the king of Nshasa, at the south-east
end of the Stanley Pool, arrived at our camp
with several canoe crews. Each of the petty
sovereigns of the districts in our neighbourhood
contributed a little, but altogether we were only
able to distribute to each person 2 lbs. of eatable
provisions. Every chief was eager for a present,
with which he was gratified, and solemn covenants
of peace were entered into between the whites
and the blacks. The treaty with Itsi was exceedingly
ceremonious and involved the exchange
of charms. Itsi transferred to me, for my protection
through life, a small gourdful of a ctirious powder,
which had rather a saline taste, and I delivered
over to him, as the white man’s charm against
all evil, a half-ounce vial of magnesia; further,
a small scratch in Frank’s arm, and another in
Itsi’s arm, supplied blood sufficient to unite us
in one and indivisible bond of fraternity. After
this we were left alone.
An observation by boiling-point, above the
First Cataract of Livingstone Falls, disclosed to
us an altitude of 1147 feet above the ocean. At
Nyangwe the river was 2077 feet. In 1235 miles
therefore there had been only a reduction of
930 feet, divided as follows:—
rMarch 14,1877-1 RIVER OBSERVATIONS.
Ntamo. J
Feet.
Nyangwe . . . . . . . ■ 2077
4 miles below seventh cataract,
Stanley Falls . . . . . 1511
Feet 566 ’
4 miles below seventh cataract,
Stanley Falls ! . , . . 1511
River at Ntamo, above first
cataract, Livingstone Falls 1147
Distance
in Miles.
337
Fall per Mile.
20 inches.
898 5 inches nearly.
River
uninterrupted.
Feet 364
th r o u g h t h e d a r k co n t in en t . VOL. IV. F