1 1 4 THROUGH THE DARK CONTINENT.
^ LNzabi Cre ek .]
Between the 15th November and the 16th
January I recorded thirty-two rainy days, the
total rainfall being of 115 hours’ duration. Between
the 16th January and the 24th February
no rain fell, but between the 24th February and
the 21 st May there was a total of thirty-nine
rainy days. This interval composed the later
or greater Masika, or monsoon.
On the 26th April I observed the river begin
to rise, but moving from, Inkisi Falls to Nzabi
Cove on April 29, I had better opportunities of
testing the rate of the rise while cutting out my
canoe, viz. until the afternoon of the 16th May.
My notes regarding the rise Were as follows:—
May
30 . . . 3 inches.
I . • • • 3 'ZK_-
2 . . . . . 4
3 • • • . . . 4
4 . . . • • • 4 V* »
5 ■ • • ■ • • 5 ' »
6 . . . 5 3/4 »
K T ' . . . 8
8 . . . • . • 9 »
9 • • • • • • 9 | »
10 . ■ • • 9 1/2 1
u IO „
12 • • • 11 „
13 • • • • • ■ 13
14 . . . ■ • • 13
15 • ■ • • • • 12 »
16 . . . . . . . II*/2 „
I3 5V4 B -
or 11 feet 31/4 inches within 17 days.
rMay «, 1877.1 t hE RISE OF THE RIVER.
[N za b i C re e k . J
AtNzabi Creek the registered rise was asfollows
1877. May 17 • • ■ • • 10 inche3,
1 8 ...............10
19 . • ■ ■ ■ 9 n
„ 8r/a „
» 7 J J |
; 22 . • • • * _^_ %
50i/a „ = 4 feet 61/* inches.
During these storms of rain, the thunder-claps
were fuUy as loud as those on the Victoria
Nyanza during the rainy season of 1875, and
the lightning fully as fierce, being quivering,
flaring pennants of flame, accompanied by bursting
shocks, in, apparently, such close proximity
that we felt frequently half stunned by the sound,
and dazed by the coruscating displays of the
electric flame. The deep chasm in which we
were pent while the season was at its height
increased the sound and re-echoed it from side
to. side, until each thunder-clap was protracted
like a file-fire of artillery. Our position at Nzabi
Cove was by no means enviable or desirable,
though our experiences did not nearly realize
all that we had anticipated. As we were encamped
on a low terrace, which was only 30 feet
above the river when we first arrived, we feared
that, at a period when it was rising so rapi -
ly, a sudden increase of 20 or 30 feet was quite
“ on the cards,” from what we remembered of
the sudden creation of rivers in Ugogo, where,