328 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



beautifully weighted and when hurled could make very 

 nasty wounds. 



On July 21 I arrived at Vankerckhovenville, a small 

 post with one white officer. Its native name is N'soro, which 

 I will call it by in future out of consideration for my reader. 

 Ten years ago it was the headquarters for the Makraka 

 country, or the Garuba-Dungu District as it is now called. 

 The station is situated on a broad promontory, surrounded 

 by the river on all except the south side, where it is shut in by 

 a semicircular range of low, grass hills known as Yuggu. 



How far off in the Ubangui days, or even in those on the 

 W'^lle, had N'soro seemed ! But now it was an accomplished 

 fact, and the moment had come to pause a little before 

 carrying out the last trek to the Nile. There were two 

 routes open to me to choose from ; these were the rivers 

 N'soro and Ira, which are the upper reaches of the Kibali. 



Till now the Ira or Bakwa had been considered the main 

 stream of the Kibali, but this is incorrect, for the N'soro or 

 Obi has the greater volume of water and at the junction is 

 some 200 yards wide. 



Both these rivers flow through the hostile countries of 

 the Mombuttus, Momvus, and Logos, so my outlook for 

 obtaining supplies and help from the natives was not very 

 bright. Eventually I decided to try the ascent of the Ira, 

 and for the next few days we were busy making preparations. 

 By now the boats were in a very leaky condition, and one 

 had no less than twenty holes in her, some large enough to 

 put a fist into. She was in a hopelessly battered state, 

 so I left her at N'soro and devoted a couple of days to re- 

 pairing the other with fresh wooden wedges and stoppings of 



