6 THE VOYAGE. Chap. I. 



at tlieir village. The mouth of the river itself is very 

 difficult to discover. In my former journey it was 

 recognisable only by the white surf which foamed 

 over its bar, and by the flocks of fish-eating birds 

 hovering in the air above it. The bar, however, 

 seemed now to have shifted, for we passed by it with- 

 out perceiving it. 



We sailed along the coast the same evening, and, 

 after anchoring for the night, still continued the same 

 course, under light sail, the next morning, looking 

 out for some native canoe to come to us, and tell us 

 our whereabouts. At length a canoe put off from the 

 shore and came alongside, and we then discovered that 

 we were several miles to the south of the Fernand 

 Yaz. The head man of the boat recognised me, and 

 thinking at first that I had come to establish a 

 trading post at his village, could not contain his 

 delight. He knew a few words of English, and 

 shouted out : " Put down the anchor ; plenty ivory ; 

 load the ship in a fortnight ! " It was a wretched 

 take-down for the poor fellow to learn that I intended 

 to establish my head-quarters in a rival village on 

 the banks of the river. He wanted to make me 

 believe that Ranpano, the chief of my former place, 

 was dead, and that his village was scattered — this 

 was the old African trick, which I knew too well to 

 be deceived by. The fellow, in his spite and dis- 

 appointment, on leaving us went out of his way to 

 prevent other canoes from coming to us, and so we 

 were unable to get a pilot. 



As we returned up the coast, we saw the natives 

 running about from house to house along the beach 



