CROSSING THE NILE. 287 



broad, which, of course, makes the crossing easier ; but there is 

 no village here, and only two boats are available for the passage. 

 On the northern bank there are isolated crags and tall forests, 

 inhabited by Lango people, and never before visited. There 

 seem to be no other names for the districts along the northern 

 bank except those of villages. 



Leaving the men to ship our few cattle and goats, we took 

 our baggage and turned a little farther to the west, where there 

 were said to be five boats. On our way we passed the spot 

 beside the river where Linant's tent stood w r hen he visited 

 Anfina. The island Mukana, on which Anfina then dwelt, 

 lies just opposite this place, but is now uninhabited, and a good 

 deal of it has been washed away. Keeping close to the river, 

 which is here very pretty, we reached the ferry of Aueri, and 

 were soon busy sending off the baggage and porters. Of course, 

 only two boats were found here, and the Matongali who had 

 been ordered to help us preferred drinking mwenge in his 

 village, and left us to work alone. The river is not broad at 

 this place ; to our right a ledge of rock projected across it, 

 over which the water foamed, and to our left, about five minutes 

 off, were some rapids — none of them, however, at all dangerous. 

 While the men were engaged in shipping the cattle, a Negro 

 killed a fine viper, but it was, unfortunately, spoiled for pre- 

 serving. We crossed in seven minutes, for our oarsmen were 

 really good and the boat was light ; we went almost straight 

 across, though the current was very strong. 



The following aneroid readings for the relative heights are 

 of interest : — Night-quarters at Mutua (eighty feet above the 

 river), 26.38 in.; Aueri (seven feet above the river), 26.56 

 in. ; level of river (in the boat), 26.75 in. The steep 

 northern bank is richly wooded, and Lango zerihas are very 

 numerous. We found our men waiting in the little village 

 Mukomere, which is inhabited by Shifalu, and then we con- 

 tinued our journey in a north-easterly direction, intending to 

 reach the Fatiko road at Eas-el-Fil. The country was very 

 well peopled, to judge from the extensive fields, but the few 

 huts that we saw had been deserted by their occupants ; all 

 the trees were hung with cylindrical hives of bark. 



Towards noon we reached a rather extensive group of zerihas, 



