PADDLERS 245 



population, who work between their own village and 

 the next above or below, and are paid a monthly 

 wage. They naturally like to return to their own 

 villages as soon as possible, so it happened several 

 times that when we met another big canoe going up- 

 stream, the two would come alongside of each other, 

 and in half a minute, and with what sounded like 

 the most bitter recriminations, though probably they 

 were really expressions of joy, the crews of the two 

 canoes would exchange places and return whence 

 they came. It is true that in certain instances this 

 paddling tax weighs very heavily on a small village 

 where there is much traffic. In many other instances 

 it weighs very heavily on the feebler individuals, for 

 they are forced to work continuously by the stronger 

 and lazier ones, who stay all the time at home. 

 At many villages you are met by the distressing 

 announcement that all the paddlers who have not 

 died of sleeping sickness are out working for the 

 State ; but the offer of a little extra payment has a 

 magical effect in raising the dead and recalling 

 absent brothers from a distance. The unexpected 

 visit, which I witnessed myself, of a State official to 

 pay their monthly wages produced the full com- 

 plement of paddlers in a village, which had just 

 declared that there were none to be found for two or 

 three days. 



Except at two places — Kibombo and Kamimbi 

 (or Sendwe), where there are some rather dangerous 

 rapids, the river is navigable for canoes from a point 



