THE NIGER TO THE NILE—ALEXANDER. 399 
sites for our camps. They were not always successful in getting out 
of our way in time. On one occasion, as the boat was coming down 
at a rapid pace into a pool, we were all thrown together by a tre- 
mendous bump, and for a moment all thought we had struck upon a 
rock. But the rock snorted and plunged out of our way. 
For the next 6 miles, up to the station of Wandi, the river is quite 
unnavigable. In places the boat had to be unloaded and dragged over 
the rocks, so as to avoid the chutes, which were gigantic. The river 
in appearance ceases to exist, and the water pours itself as best it 
may over the slabs of rock with which the whole length and breadth 
are strewn. In this distance there are at least six big rapids. At 
one we had a very narrow escape of being smashed up. We had been 
going in smooth water for a time and the men were all in the boat 
poling when suddenly the current became strong and the boat was 
carried helplessly along, each second nearing the steep. The poles 
were quite useless to check the increasing impetus of the boat. In 
spite of the heroic efforts of the men the boat swung round, and the 
next instant crashed heavily against a large dead limb of a tree, where 
it stuck. But for this there would have been nothing to hope for. 
The tsetse fly, the species that carries the germ of sleeping sickness, 
was very much in evidence about Wandi, and I saw two cases of the 
disease. Further on it became still worse, and close to Amadi I 
came across two villages that were wiped out by it and the chief of 
another was brought to me in a dying condition. The same scourge 
carried off one of my boys, who died just before we reached the Nile. 
For 100 miles after leaving Wandi there are nothing but rapids the 
whole way, and the one 6 miles from that place is the biggest we had 
yet seen and presented a splendid spectacle. Here the river is 300 
yards across, and a great volume of water sweeps foaming over steep 
rocks, past islands covered with beautiful palm trees, which are the 
resort of dog-faced baboons. In the neighborhood of Raffai appear 
small hills of not more than 400 feet. These are inhabited by the 
Miza people, a tribe that struck me as rather original. The men, 
who are smooth-skinned and gentle, adorn themselves with bead orna- 
ments and girdles of beautiful design, while the women affect a mascu- 
line severity of costume, fruit stones taking the place of beads. At 
Avurra the Yei becomes a splendid river, with an average width of 
60 yards, and the country throughout is well populated. 
It was now December, and the river was rapidly emptying itself; 
in places there was hardly enough depth to clear the keel of the boat, 
and it became a race between us and the water. To hasten our 
pace we threw away all our belongings with a light heart, for our 
spirits were high, as we had said good-bye to the rocks. For about 90 
miles, to near its mouth, the Yei flows through a flat fertile country, 
where large herds of cattle and sheep roam at will. Often along the 
