

IMPORTANCE OF FISHERY OUTFITS. 475 



Public attention, for example, has of late been con- 

 stantly directed to the unfortunate history of the hard- 

 ships and sufferings undergone by the ill-fated rear 

 column of the Emin Pasha Relief Expedition in Central 

 Africa. In this case a large contingent of natives were 

 encamped for months under the command of European 

 officers upon the banks of the Aruwimi, a noble 

 river. It will be fresh in the memory of everyone 

 that their sufferings and losses were mainly attributed 

 to bad and insufficient food, and idleness ; yet there is 

 no record of any organized attempt to utilize the supply 

 of fish which existed at their very doors, though goods 

 were on hand to exchange for fish and other food sup- 

 plies, which is conclusive as to plenty of fish being there. 



In an extensive and well- equipped expedition of this 

 kind, the formation of a depot of stores in the rear of 

 the main party, to which they could fall back in case 

 of disaster, or from which they could replenish supplies 

 as they became exhausted, was an obvious measure 

 of precaution to which a competent leader would re- 

 sort as a matter almost of course ; and the advantages 

 of water carriage would naturally render its location 

 upon the banks of a navigable river imperative. This 

 must have been evident from the first, and there 

 can be little doubt that all these African rivers literally 

 teem with various forms of aquatic life: for just as 

 nature has endowed the tropical jungle with boundless 

 wealth of production, so in like manner she has almost 

 everywhere been equally profuse in her dealings with 

 the inhabitants of the waters ; and probably in no way 

 could the idle or weakly hands in the camp at Yam- 

 buya have been more usefully employed than in setting 

 them to work at a fishery. 



