Chap. XIV. PASSAGE OF THE OGOULOU. 277 



about to start had hidden them in the jungle. It 

 required a long parley to bring them to reason. At 

 length three ferry-boats were brought, one old and 

 rotten. The owner of this last boat was an old man, 

 who knew how to drive a very hard bargain : he 

 required four measures of powder for the loan of the 

 boats, and when I had given him four asked five, 

 when I had given him five he raised his demands to 

 sis, and so on. It finished at last in the usual way by 

 my indignantly refusing his demands ; he then came 

 round to more moderate terms, — the more readily, 

 because he saw that the other two boat-owners were 

 ready to take us at my price — and we embarked, 

 all Yengue crowding down to the water-side to see 

 us off, the chief himself leading me to the boat. 



After crossing the Ogoulou (which I have named 

 the Eckmlihl in honour of a dear friend in France) we 

 passed through a tract of forest varied with numerous 

 plantations of the natives, the river flowing through 

 a fertile alluvial valley, between ranges of hills. 



Before we had emerged from the river valley we 

 passed through several Ishogo villages ; the country 

 then began to rise, and we marched over a hilly 

 district, all covered, as usual, with impenetrable 

 jungle. The forest paths were narrow, and the 

 most varied and strange forms of vegetation rose on 

 either side. We A^'ere delayed some time on the way 

 waiting for stragglers. At two p.m. we reached an 

 elevated plateau, and a little before three arrived at 

 the Ishogo village of Mokenga, about six miles to 

 the eastward of Yengue, and 160 feet higher than 

 that town. 



