CHAPTER XV. 



THE BIGHTS, THE OIL-RIYERS, AND FERNANDO PO. 



" This sickness doth infect the very life-blood of our enterprise." 



Henry IV. 



The mouths of the Niger. — A dreary coast. — Bonny. — " The Stella." 

 — King Peppel. — The Juju-house. — Cannibals. — The Cameroons 

 and Fernando Po. — Clarence. — The Hadji's abode. — Eobert 

 Bruce "Walker's kindness. — Daddy Jem. — " The hunting phy- 

 sician." — A ballet at Boobie-town. — A drawback. — " The Mi- 

 nerva." — Malimba. — The Borea river.— Signs of game. — Visions 

 of elephants. — A disappointment. — Hippopotami. — TheBotanga 

 falls. — Fever no respecter of persons. — The entrance of the 

 Gaboon. — African hospitality. — My boat. 



At Lagos we left the last official, and our party in 

 the saloon became very select, being reduced to 

 seven, all told. The weather had become truly 

 African, for the thermometer generally stood some- 

 thing above 90°, day and night, and the constant 

 rolling of the steamer from heavy ground-swell 



