138 RIVER SCENERY. 



an hour, and came to anchor for the night 

 below the rocky islets that appear to guard 

 the upper entrance of the strait. In the morn- 

 ing we were again under weigh, and a few mi- 

 nutes afterwards opened one of the noblest 

 reaches that imagination could have conceived. 

 An immense river, about three thousand yards 

 wide, extending as far as the eye could reach, 

 lay before us, flowing majestically between its 

 banks, which rose gradually to a considerable 

 height and were studded with clumps of trees 

 and brushwood, giving them the appearance of 

 a gentleman's park ; while the smoke rising from 

 different towns on its banks, and the number of 

 canoes floating on its bosom, gave it an aspect 

 of security and peace far beyond any African 

 scene I had yet witnessed. The confluence of 

 the Shary was just in sight, and a range of low 

 hills on the northern bank trended east-north- 

 east ; while on the western bank of the Niger 

 were two remarkable isolated table-lands of a 

 romantic and beautiful appearance, giving a 

 finish to a picture to which no description can 

 do adequate justice. 



At ten A. M. as we were pursuing our course, 

 the Quorra struck on a shelf of rocks extend- 



