MY JOURNEY CONTINUED TO ASHAKA 207 



in the early morning and after a three hours' march reached 

 the bank of the Kaduna river. This proved a serious check 

 to our progress, as we had no proper means for the crossing. 

 The river was in flood with a turgid stream thirty yards wide, 

 flowing with a current of ten miles an hour. At first it 

 seemed very hopeless to think of getting the thirty-two 

 boxes across, as the only native means of conveyance were 

 faggots of bamboo canes. On these the natives sit astride 

 one end, the other sticking up in the air in front, and propel 

 themselves by their legs, carrying whatever burden they have 

 upon their heads. I tried this method with my boxes, but 

 they were too heavy and the experiment resulted in the first 

 box being thrown into the water. I then thought of my 

 canvas bath and this proved very useful for carrying the 

 lighter things. The strongest swimmers among the " boys " 

 managed very well, pushing the bath in front of them. But 

 the problem of the boxes was still to be solved ; also there 

 was the transport of my own person to be thought of, for 

 ever since I was nearly drowned as a boy at school I have 

 never been able to master the art of swimming. 



Now it so happened that with the rest of my baggage 

 I was carrying a coffin, which had been entrusted to me at 

 Lokoja to take up-country. At first I hesitated at putting 

 the coffin to other use than that for which it was intended. 

 But, after all, it seemed to me that it was destined to be a 

 Charon's ferryboat to carry its mournful freight over a 

 darker Stygian flood than the one before me. And the coffin 

 itself had to be got across somehow. As it was in my charge 

 why should I not go with it ? So I placed it upon the water 

 and got in. Luckily it had enough resistance to carry my 



