DOWN THE LOGONS RIVER 99 



out of the six spent on the march were in a morass, 

 it was exhausting work for them. Nearly every man 

 carried a small pipe, suspended round his neck by 

 means of a chain, and by playing some little air he 

 could always summon a comrade to his assistance. In 

 most places the swamp was some 2|- feet deep, but 

 every now and again a man would disappear in a hole 

 up to his neck, and have to be pulled out. And the 

 strains of music we occasionally heard from front or 

 rear usually meant that some man was in distress. 



Our immediate destination was a quaint little village 

 called Ham, perched on a narrow ridge that rises 

 steeply out of the river, and which is surrounded by 

 stagnant water except in the height of the dry season. 

 The huts are clustered so thickly together that there 

 is barely room to pass between them, and tiny plots of 

 tobacco-plant fill up any space there might otherwise be. 



The neighbourhood is full of game, and gazelle came 

 to feed within shot of the town. We rejoiced at the 

 prospect of a few days' hunting, for we had time to 

 spare, as the canoes that were to meet us had not yet 

 arrived. It was not to be, however, for Mr Talbot 

 struck his head against a beam, unfortunately in the 

 identical place where he had injured it when thrown 

 from his horse in the Kamerun, and the result was 

 delirium and several days of bed. 



His craving, as an invalid, was for sardines, and these, 

 after anxious consultation of the medical chapter in 

 ' Hints to Travellers,' we decided would be bad for 

 him. Situ therefore had to be enlisted on our side, 

 and forbidden to comply with any food orders without 

 first consulting Mrs Talbot. She, however, fell sadly 

 in his opinion, for her standard of wifely decorum 



