112 VISIT TO THE SAMBA NAGOSHI FALLS. Chap. V. 



roast and eat the head of this poisonous snake : when 

 I examined it I did not see the poison fangs, pro- 

 bably they had been extracted. 



ISth. Travelled all day, reaching the Opangano 

 prairie at five p.m. 



Idth. On the march again by daylight, through a 

 fearful storm with deluges of rain. The rain fell in 

 such sheets, that we had difficulty in seeing the path 

 before us, and it lasted till eleven o'clock. One or 

 two rain-falls of this kind happen every wet season. 

 I was afraid my watches would have been spoiled, 

 but the leather case proved a good protector. This 

 case had been given to me by my good and honoured 

 friend. Sir George Back ; and was of the same pat- 

 tern as the one used by him in his celebrated Arctic 

 voyage. The kind letters I received from him just 

 before my departure for the interior were full of 

 good and valuable advice, and will always be grate- 

 fully remembered by me. We waded for hours 

 through water up to the ankles. The rivulets we 

 crossed had become too deep to ford, and as I could 

 not swim, trees had to be felled, to fall across and 

 serve as a bridge. I felt that another night passed in 

 the forest would be almost insupportable, besides the 

 great risk of fever to which we should be exposed. 

 We pushed forward at our best speed, crossed the 

 Ovigui, and at length, at half-past five p.m., arrived 

 at Olenda utterly exhausted. 



Quengueza came out to meet me. As soon as I 

 reached my hut I had a bath of warm water, took a 

 cup of tea and a dose of quinine, and went to bed. 



