30 FROM THE NIGER TO THE NILE 



canoe drew its length slowly down stream, jerked on by the 

 exertions of a small naked boy who sweated and panted as he 

 struggled at the end of a long pole, while another worked con- 

 tinually baling out water with a calabash. A thin column 

 of smoke curled up and drifted away behind from the fire in 

 the bows, which was boiling water for their mid-day meal. 

 The native owners of these canoes take up contracts with the 

 Niger Company to carry trade goods up the river to their 

 stores. They then fill up with a cargo of their own or take 

 passengers on the return journey down stream. Sometimes 

 the canoes are filled with sheep and cattle, and sometimes 

 they carry hidden cargoes of boys and girls to be sold for 

 slaves at the Lokoja market. 



About half-past three in the afternoon we would select 

 a site for our camp for the night, generally on a sand-bank ; 

 and there was much work to be done, pitching the tents and 

 unloading the boxes from the canoes that all leaked badly ; 

 then there were the rations for the " boys " to be given out, 

 consisting of one pound each of ground millet, some of which 

 they saved for their morning meal. Parties were sent out to 

 gather wood for the fires, and after a cup of tea, we ourselves 

 set out hunting or collecting in different directions with 

 hopes, which were at this time seldom realised, of getting a 

 change of food for the evening meal. To this we sat down 

 after a warm bath, at six o'clock. Then, when the nights 

 were fine there were several hours of star work, always 

 greatly impeded by the swarms of insects that came round 

 the lamps in clouds, getting in one's eyes and darkening the 

 lenses of the instruments. 



The Benue is well populated throughout its course, but the 



