UP THE GONGOLA RIVER TO ASHAKA 155 



with lamentations and woe to say that the lammido 

 was just dead. In exchange for some wood Goshng gave 

 him some biscuit, half a pound of meal, and a looking-glass 

 which I should think must have given the old man a shock 

 when he beheld his cavernous face within ! 



Gosling was in hopes there might be some game in the 

 neighbourhood which he might shoot for the unhappy 

 people, but unfortunately there was none to be seen. 



Next morning all the polers struck, refusing to go on, for, 

 after the dismal sights of Billachi, they feared that farther 

 up the river it would be famine for themselves and food for 

 the inhabitants, who were cannibals. However, they were 

 coaxed on for another two miles, and then they struck again. 

 After a quarter of an hour had been wasted in talk, Gosling 

 managed to get them along again, and then they worked 

 well, getting the canoe to move against the very strong 

 current with marvellous effect. So they were rewarded with 

 double " chop " that evening. 



On August 3 he came to a point where a chain of hills 

 crossed the river ; on the farther side lay the village of Kiri. 

 After this, navigation was easier, for the current was less 

 strong. Away to the west there were bare, smooth hills, 

 where a large village of the Yam-Yam people could be seen 

 perched on a fiat ledge of rock. The country all along the 

 river on either side was covered with thin bush and long 

 grass. 



The next day he reached a place called Shillem, a village 

 surrounded by an ancient wall. On the path thither he heard 

 groans through the bush and eventually came upon a man 

 dying of starvation by the roadside. The lammido of the 



