XIX.] DUCK SHOOTING. 261 



The passage down the river was rapid and pleasant, owing August, 

 to the swift current and the beauty of the scenery. On the is*?-*. 

 left bank the shore rose gradually till it culminated in a range 

 of wooded hills ten or twelve miles distant ; while the right 

 bank rose abruptly in small cliffs crowned by hanging woods, 

 and here and there broken by the embouchure of one of the 

 numerous affluents of the giant stream. Islands, populous and 

 wooded, were passed in constant succession. 



From flocks of duck feeding on the numerous sand-banks I 

 managed to bag two or three couple, and found them almost 

 precisely like an English wild duck, except in color. The body 

 was white, speckled with brown ; wings, head, and tail, black, 

 shot with greenish blue. 





NYANQWE, FKD.M TllK KIVEK. 



In the afternoon the canoe-men put in at a fishing village on 

 the right bank, and declared their intention of halting. I told 

 them they might stop if they pleased, but I and the canoes 

 were going on to Nyangwe ; for I well knew that if we camped 

 neither canoes nor men would be forthcoming next mornino-. 

 Seeing that I was determined, the men consented to go on. 



At sunset I noticed some large huts on a bluff over the 

 river. This was the commencement of the Arab settlement 

 of N'yangwe, and a landing-place was just below. Jumping 

 ashore, I went into the settlement, and my appearance rather 

 astonished the people ; for they had heard nothing of our ap- 



