The Shade of the Virgin Forest 239 



pied for a considerable time have to be abandoned was still 

 further increased by the breaking-in of two hundred unpractised 

 Congolese auxiliary carriers. Then there was the rain ! But the 

 weather was in accordance with our general condition of depres- 

 sion as we set out at last, accompanied by our escort, under 

 Lieutenant Boyton. It cleared up before long, and after three 

 and a half hours of marching through pleasant, hilly and un- 

 dulating steppe land we reached the boundary of the dense West 

 African forest, from which we were not to emerge for a period 

 of two months. An hour later we reached the Ituri, a hundred 

 and twenty metres broad at that spot. We crossed it in a dug- 

 out, the transit of our riding animals causing a good deal of 

 trouble, and went into camp at Kifuku, the old Irumu, and the 

 first of the fixed camping quarters which have been erected 

 throughout the whole Irumu-Stanleyville route at intervals of 

 fifteen to thirty kilometres. They serve for the convenience of 

 passing Europeans and the officials of the Congo State, who, 

 coming from the Congo, wish to reach the upper Ituri district 

 or Beni. 



The serai in these encampments nearly always presents the 

 same appearance ; a clay hut, usually thatched with phrynium 

 leaves, and consisting of two almost cubiform " rooms," divided 

 in the middle by a broad corridor. A raised gallery, called the 

 barasa, runs under the wide, projecting roof. The little brick 

 houses, often very pretty ones, at the stations are for the most 

 part built on the same pattern. In the serai the floor is usually 

 formed of stamped clay, and a primitive form of table is often 

 placed in the hall close to the barasa. I have been reckless enough 

 to repose in these barasas, although aware that the roofs are by 

 no means always watertight and fever relapses are sometimes 

 brought on from resting in such places. As a protection from 

 the rain, I used to draw a wrapping of balloon material over 

 the roof, a stuff that has often rendered excellent service as 

 a covering for the loads and as a rain-tent for the carriers ; 

 then I felt safe. These houses, however, are always pleasant 

 to spend a halt in, especially the "hall," which is used as a 



