64 CHIEFS & CITIES OF CENTRAL AFAICA 



Canoes, roughly hewn from tree-trunks, had been 

 brought all the way from Lere for us, and we crossed 

 two by two, squatting on their leaky bottoms. When 

 we reached the main stream, the current again and 

 again swept us into the rushes of a back-water, 

 while M. Bertaut exhorted us to courage by the 

 oft - repeated words, " N'ayez pas peur." At last 

 success crowned our efforts, but we had barely 

 landed before a scrimmage and shouts from the rear 

 revealed some misfortune, and we each conjured up 

 before us the greatest loss we could severally sustain. 

 Mr Talbot was in consternation lest it might be the 

 box that contained his bills and accounts. Providence 

 was good to him and spared them, though its protec- 

 tion did not extend to our chairs and cushions, for 

 it was these that had fallen in, and they were only 

 rescued after a great deal of agitation and bother. 

 This was the only casualty, but it took a long time 

 to get everything over, after which we had a short 

 march of eleven miles without meeting a single person. 

 Usually people came running out to see us, but all 

 this time neither man, woman, nor child appeared. We 

 confidently hoped to come upon some village where we 

 could rest during the mid-day heat, and at last one 

 was seen, but when we reached it each house lay bare 

 and tenantless. We pushed on, wondering what could 

 be the cause of this desolation, for fields of maize 

 and guinea-corn proved recent occupation, and crops 

 of pumpkins were strewn about the ground. Presently 

 we came to another township, but it too was deserted. 

 We asked M. Bertaut what the explanation might 

 be, and he told us that the people had fled the 

 tsetse-fly, after losing first their cattle, then their 



