350 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



of it ; so had we of them, and we mutually agreed to 

 part. 



That night the camp-fires were not so cheerful as those 

 on the road to Yei. We were again off the beaten track, 

 and the " boys " feared the unknown river that lay in front 

 of them. As I sat over my fire, for it was chilly, the hght 

 of the others threw out in black relief the figures of the men 

 squatting cross-legged in a circle, and quarrelsome sounds 

 now and again caught my ear ; the words, " 5ara," meaning 

 the Nile, and '' Hamya hacJiou'' ("Road no good"), told 

 me the gist of their talk. A feehng of irritation came over 

 me that my " boys " were not of my mind and I for a moment 

 began to doubt and to think this would be my last chance of 

 getting back, for on the farther bank there was a path to Yei. 

 But the next moment the vision of a broad river flowing 

 through an open land came back to me and I determined to 

 push on. 



I will not weary the reader with all the details of the 

 next few days, but some idea can be formed of the nature 

 of the work and character of the river when I say that I made 

 my fifth camp only eleven and a half miles from Yei. In 

 this part the river is nothing but a succession of rapids in 

 terrace formation, rendered more difficult by the obstructions 

 of small islands, and in places the whole stream is choked up 

 with great tufts of grass. It was laborious progress ; some- 

 times only a mile a day was made, and the boat had to be got 

 past the rapids by the men hanging on to the chain in the 

 water from the stern and letting her down gradually. The 

 rocks knocked and cut the men's feet about a great deal ; 

 sometimes trees fallen right across the stream had to be cut 



