Falls, which occupied us until the 16th, with
fifteen men employed. It measured, when completed,
45 feet long, 2 feet 2 inches beam, and
18 inches deep, and was flat-bottomed, after the
model of the Wy-yanzi canóes.
In the meantime Manwa Sera was steadily advancing
each day from 500 to 800 yards, according
to the nature of the ground, and by the
evening of the 15th was in our camp to receive
a hearty meed of praise for the completion of
his task. It was singular, however, how quickly
the people became demoralized the moment I
turned away. The natives brought various com-
plaints of robbery of fowls and spoliation of
cassava gardens against them, and one, Saburi
Rehani, was a prisoner in their hands, or, in
other words, was liable to be sold by them unless
redeemed by me. I spent an entire day in
the negotiation of his freedom, but finally he
was purchased by me for 150 dollars’ worth of
cloth, which most wofully diminished my stock.
Naturally this excessive price paid for the release
of a- thief drew most energetic threats from me
should any crime of this nature be repeated.
But my men had borne themselves in the most
admirable manner since leaving Uguha, and, after
crossing through a furnace of fire side by side
with me, it would have been unnatural for me to
have judged them very severely. At the same time
the evil-dispositioned were not to be allowed to
sacrifice the lives of their fellows either by slow
hunger or in violent conflicts for their sakes.
Frequent redemptions of thieves from the hands
of those they had spoliated would at this period
have ended in beggary and starvation. It was
therefore explained, for the fiftieth time, that
persons arrested by the natives while in the
act of stealing would be left in their hands.
During the afternoon of the 16th we embarked
the goods, and the canoe-men, skirting the base
of the rocky line, descended one mile to Nzabi
Creek, which proved a calm haven, separated
from the river by a rugged line of massive blocks;
and after we had entered by the narrow entrance
we obtained a view of the wide mouth of a
ravine, which was like a deep indentation in the
mountain line. From base to summit the tableland
was wooded, and very many noble bombax
and straight-shafted teaks rose above the grove
in this happy and picturesque mountain fold.
After such a gigantic task as that of hauling
the canoes up 1200 feet of a steep slope, and
over three miles of ground, and then lowering
them 1200 feet into the river again, the people
deserved a rest. In the meantime, as absolute
idleness would have been subversive of that
energy which had to characterize us during this
period, we set to work cutting down a teak-
tree, and for this job selected forty men, twenty
of whom were allotted to Frank for nightwork,