382 JOURNEY TO THE COAST. Chap. XIX. 



Ngouyai, and tlience to the Apono country ; but on 

 stating my intentions to some of the villagers they 

 told me that there was a waterfall a few miles below 

 the village, and that it would be necessary to pass 

 our canoe by land round the obstruction. We could 

 not, however, get any very exact information about 

 the river ; and, fearing there might be other diffi- 

 culties, I gave up the plan, and decided to travel 

 back by the same path by which we had come. 



We were now travelling without a guide, for no 

 one was wilhng to accompany us after Magouga had 

 left us. As a natural consequence, we had not 

 gone far before we lost our way. The path we 

 took led us to an Apono village which we had not 

 seen before ; it was beautifully situated on the top 

 of one of the hills which form the last and lowest 

 range of the mountains we had come from. From 

 the village we had a wide prospect over the prairie 

 of the Apono country, the yellow colour of which 

 contrasted strongly with the dark-green hues of the 

 forest that clothed the hilly ranges. The view ex- 

 tended to the other side of the prairie, where we 

 could see the mountain-range which divides the 

 Otando from the Ashira Ngozai territories. A 

 stretch of country, moderately hilly and covered 

 with forest, extended between our position and the 

 yellow prairie. 



The villagers fled at our approach, but we luckily 

 found Dibako, a Mokaba man who had been one of 

 our porters in our eastward journey, and he proved 

 a true friend in need to us. After we had rested 

 a while and refreshed ourselves with a drink of 



