MY BIG TUSKER. 1/5 



blocked up by some enormous tree which has fallen 

 across from bank to bank. In cases of this kind, it is 

 sometimes necessary to make a portage, viz., to unload 

 your boats, cut a number of rollers, make a wooden cap- 

 stan and a rope of twisted bark, and thus haul your 

 boats up the bank, and lower them into the water on the 

 other side of the obstacle. 



I remember on one occasion when ascending a river 

 we came to a giant fallen trunk, about 150 feet in 

 length and averaging about five feet in diameter. It 

 had fallen across the river and served as a footbridge. 



There was room for our boats to pass underneath 

 without removing the awnings. While we were up the 

 river the heavy rains at the sources caused a flood. 

 On our return journey we found that the river having 

 risen the trunk was half covered with water. It was 

 equally impossible to pass beneath it or above it. We 

 could not afford to wait a week for the flood to abate, so 

 we had to make a portage. 



Perhaps some one may ask: "Why not cut the trunk 

 in half?" This appears to be a sensible question, but I 

 would advise the querist to attempt to cut in half a 

 horizontal tree five feet in diameter, the lower half of 

 which is immersed in a swift flowing current, and he will 

 discover where the difficulty lies. 



As we descended the river, we gradually got into the 

 tide way. The vegetation altered. There were fewer 

 trees and more palms. The river became uninteresting. 

 The tide was at its lowest, and on each bank a belt of 

 about five feet of dense black mud was visible. The 

 mosquitoes and sandflies began to annoy us too. 



Occasionally we saw young crocodiles a few inches 

 long basking in the mud, and they would rush splutter- 



