272 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



Our journey up the river from Angu to Niangara was a 

 continual fight against rapids and hidden rocks. With the 

 exception of the distance between the Angba hills and 

 Niangara, where the river bed for the first time becomes 

 sandy, the entire course is cut up by rocky stretches and bad 

 rapids complicated by islands, with navigable reaches at 

 intervals varying from two to eight miles in length and in 

 two or three places from thirty to forty miles, but this was 

 when .the river was at its full ; during the dry season naviga- 

 tion must be very much more difiicult. 



The principal rapids, where unloading was necessary, 

 are the Corombo, about a day from Bima ; the Sakossa and 

 Ciassi below Bambili ; the Punga, twenty-five miles above 

 Bambili ; and above these again the Angba, formed by the 

 hill of that name. 



As far as Bambili the left bank of the river is all tropical 

 forest which after that point recedes to the line of the 

 Bomakandi river, and the Welle is then known as the Makua 

 and flows through an open bush and grass country the whole 

 length of its course from the Kibali. It has an average width 

 of 160 yards and both banks are well lined with belts of trees 

 with spaces now and then that open on to pretty views of 

 the country beyond. Although the river is such a difficult 

 one for navigation, it is used for transport purposes by the 

 Belgians between Niangara and Angu, from which place 

 connection with the Congo is made by a four days' trek 

 to the Likati river. 



The arrangement of the posts on the Welle is very perfect ; 

 the two best examples are Niangara and Bambili, especially 

 the latter, which is prettily situated on the right bank on 



