86 CAPTAIN TUCKEY’S NARRATIVE. 
reduced to occasional patches of a few yards of brush 
wood, or reeds, which, gliding gently down the stream, 
convey the idea of repose rather than the rush of a mighty 
river. 
Tiutenant Hawkey proceeded up the creek opposite to 
which the Congo was anchored, and describes it “‘ as di-° 
viding into two branches, one having a direction E. by S. 
and the other W. by N., the former of which he fol- 
lowed, and found it extremely tortuous; after passing 
twenty reaches in directions almost opposite, he reached 
the primitive land, composed here of sandy precipitous 
cliffs ; the soil in some spots bare, in others covered with 
wood, particularly with the Adansonia or boabab. Here 
we met with the excrement of elephants, tygers, and other 
animals both herbivorous and carnivorous; the skeleton of 
the head of a wild hog was picked up, and an antelope was 
seen; on the sandy beach close to a pond of stagnant fresh 
water were many birds, where the river turtle had deposited 
their eggs.” 
Many canoes visited the Congo, with pigs, goats, fowls, 
and eggs for sale, but being almost as exorbitant in their 
demands as at Shark Point, we did little business ; some 
trading canoes with 10 to 20 men in each, going up and 
down the river, also stopped along side to satisfy their 
