Chap. \^ MOUNT MURCHISON. 100 



nothing journey), wliicli did not take us a step nearer 

 to London. 



The next morning, the 11th, I succeeded in as- 

 cending, in a frail canoe, part of the river which was 

 difficult to navigate, being full of rocks and small 

 islands. In many places the river seemed broader 

 than at Luba. One of the many islands was called 

 Olenda. 



Leaving the ebando, I returned to Luba. The 

 scarcity of food here had reached starvation point, so 

 we lost no time in continuing our journey to the 

 Ovigui ; we had just sufficient plantains left to last 

 us ; the river was rising fast, and the current was 

 very strong. I found the Ngouyai had risen about 

 four and a half feet in three days. 



In ascending we kept close to the right bank, in 

 order to get a good view of the Nkoumou Nabouali. 

 When the highest part of the mountain bore W., 

 then the summit, which had appeared only as a 

 single peak, showed distinctly two sharp jDcaks. 

 Trees covered the peaks to the summit. I named 

 this conspicuous mountain Mount Murchison, after 

 my honoured friend Sir Roderick Murchison, the 

 illustrious President of the Royal Geographical 

 Society of London. In my former travels I had 

 estimated the distance of Nkoumou Nabouali from 

 Olenda at sixty miles, being misled by my recollec- 

 tions of the appearance of the peak of Fernando Po. 

 I now found the distance was only thirty-five miles. 

 A few miles below the junction of the Ovigui the 

 Na-ouvai seems to run parallel to the hillj^ ridges, 



