366 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



marked on the old maps. Up till now I had been able to 

 get natives to carry our things by the bank, but here I saw 

 little likehhood of replacing them ; the chief gave me a bad 

 account of the Dinkas lower^down the river, saying that 

 they had killed many of his people ; and when the men of the 

 village heard that I wanted carriers they made themselves 

 scarce. 



In the morning I found by the stick which I had placed 

 in the water, that the river had gone down a foot in the night. 

 There was nothing to do but throw away the few belongings 

 we had left in order to lighten the boat still further. I told 

 Jose to open all the " boys' " mats, and they looked on in 

 dismay to see everything except their blankets swept away. 

 My tin box with old clothes and various odds and ends was 

 doomed, and all but one of the cooking-pots ; several antelope 

 heads and a buffalo's also had to go by the board, and the 

 rations were cut down to a minimum. My anxiety was 

 great, for there was hardly depth enough to clear the keel 

 of the boat, and it was now a race between us and the water. 

 It was very irritating, for at Avurra the Yei becomes a 

 splendid river, with a sandy bottom, clean banks and an 

 average width of sixty yards, and the country throughout 

 its course is well populated. 



Without loss of time we again started, and as we came to 

 a small reed-island I told Bukar to take out my tin box and 

 throw it in among the tall reeds. Lifting it upon his shoulders 

 he stamped away through the water and hurled the box with 

 a crash into the reeds, as if to show that he entirely dis- 

 approved of my waste of property. And now we went along 

 at a swinging pace that reminded us of the golden days, 



