THE NIGER TO THE NILE—ALEXANDER. 395 
some 3 miles long, inhabited by elephant, pig, and the small Congo 
buffalo. As one journeys on the aspect of the river changes and its 
course winds past wooded headlands that form a succession of bays. 
At Mobbai the river appears to be a dividing line between a sterile 
and fertHde land. On the right bank treeless hills, on the left 
extensive tropical forests, wind along the valleys. From the Tomi 
to Yakoma there are only two serious rapids, those at Mobbai, and 
the more formidable Setema rapids. 
As regards the inhabitants, space does not permit me to mention 
more than the Banziris and the Yakomas. They are fine races, 
especially the Yakomas, whose men are veritable giants, and the 
finest specimens I have seen anywhere in Africa. All along the 
river there are thickly populated villages, some over a mile in length, 
and the appearance of the people strikes one as being extremely 
healthy and prosperous. The young girls of the Yakoma race deftly 
weave long plaited cords of black twine into their hair, which, fall- 
ing over their shoulders to the ground, give the appearance of their 
possessing luxuriant tresses. The ends are wound on a stick like 
a big ball of twine that weighs 10 pounds, and is carried under the 
arm and on the head when at work. 
On January 1 we arrived at Yakoma, a large Belgian post at the 
mouth of the Welle, and the next day we left to ascend the river, 
whose course has a width of from 800 to 1,000 yards, studded with 
rocks, and flowing through an ironstone country, where the natives 
work mines to a depth of 90 feet. A few days later, in a thick mist, 
we set out to pass the Voro rapids, about three days below Djabbir, 
the strongest and most dangerous on the Welle, stretching a distance 
of 3 miles and sometimes a mile wide, cut up by a maze of small 
rocky islands covered with palm trees and tropical growth, between 
which the water rushes and tumbles headlong, the foam flying many 
feet into the air. With great efforts the boats mounted and were 
driven beyond the rapids. 
The violent uses the boats had now been put to had caused splits 
to appear, and I was at a loss to find a wherewithal to mend them, 
till I luckily remembered having seen a native woman mending her 
pots with the wax of wild honey, and it struck me at the time as so 
interesting that I made a note of it. And now I tried it with un- 
expected success. Wooden wedges were driven into the cracks and 
then sealed over with the melted wax. The restoration was com- 
plete, and Samson’s proverb reversed, for out of sweetness came forth 
strength. 
Except for good water between the Angba hill and Niangara, the 
entire course of the Welle is cut up by rapids and hidden rocks. 
The river folk are the Bakango, a numerous people, whose conditions 
