54 Observations on the River Zaire. [July, 



floating islands, torn off from the main land by the violence of 

 the torrent, and suspended by its velocity. Beyond the alluvial 

 ground, the country rises into rounded hills of moderate height, 

 which are represented as being generally barren, and the whole 

 district seems to be but thinly peopled. On account of the diffi- 

 culty of the navigation, depending partly upon the irregularity of 

 the sea breezes, which were scarcely sufficient to counteract the 

 force of the stream, and still more from the winding and uncer- 

 tain course of the bed of the river, the large vessel proceeded only 

 as far as Embomma, a slave mart belonging to the Portuguese, 

 which is the principal settlement in the country, about 80 or 90 

 miles from the sea. For a distance of 50 or 60 miles further, the 

 river still continues to be navigable, but it is considerably con- 

 tracted in its dimensions, and the hills approach so near to each 

 other, as in some places to leave only narrow strips of soil, and 

 in others, to come to the water's edge. They are described as 

 bare and rocky, chiefly composed of mica slate, with masses of 

 quartz rising above the surface. In the little valleys between 

 the hills, there is more of the appearance of fertility ; but the 

 whole district appears to have been barren and uninteresting. 

 The climate is represented as pleasant, the thermometer seldom 

 exceeding 76° in the day, or descending below 60° in the night ; 

 the atmosphere was generally serene, and the diurnal changes 

 uniform. In the morning there are light breezes from the S.; and 

 for some hours in the middle of the day or afternoon, there is a 

 regular sea breeze. 



The dreariness of the country increased as the travellers 

 advanced into the interior. Capt. Tuckey remarks, " the most 

 striking features of the country are the extreme barrenness of the 

 hills near the river, the whole being still composed of slate with 

 masses of quartz and sienite, the latter becoming the main 

 formation, as we advanced to the S.E. with perpendicular 

 fissures from three inches to one quarter inch in breadth filled 

 with quartz." The bed of the river continues to contract in its 

 dimensions, and all navigation, even for canoes, becomes at 

 length impracticable, and remains so for about 40 miles. The 

 water was here not more than from 300 to 500 yards broad ; its 

 current necessarily becomes rapid, is broken into whirlpools by 

 rocks, while the banks are in many parts almost perpendicular, 

 and rise up to a great height. Besides a succession of smaller 

 rapids, there is a larger one in this part, which is spoken of by the 

 natives as a prodigious cataract. When the travellers saw it, 

 which, however, was just before the commencement of the rainy 

 season, " they were not less surprised than disappointed, instead 

 of a second Niagara, which the description of the natives, and 

 their horror of it, had given us reason to expect, to find a compa- 

 rative brook bubbling over its stony bed." Perhaps in the 

 flooded state of the river, this rapid, which is called the fall of 

 Yellala may correspond more nearly with the description which 



