OUR JOURNEY UP THE NIGER AND BENUE 29 



go echoing across the water to increase into a babel of noise 

 as we passed the length of the canoe, and its crew and our 

 polers recognising each other, would excitedly pour out the 



news since their last meeting, keeping up the interchange 

 to a last shriek as the canoe passed out of sight in the distance. 

 The canoes or " dug-outs " of the Benue are splendid 

 boats of some 30 ft. hewn out of one tree. The one in the 

 accompanying photograph was very typical, and was carrying 

 a crowded cargo of passengers and yams to Lokoja. Beneath 

 the awning of zana matting, women partly draped in striped 

 and gay coloured coverings were sheltering from the fierce 

 sun, and the men lounged lazily along the sides, while the 



