58 THE RIVER ZAMBEZI AiND ITS SCENERY 



already dead, and I had not passed many hours 

 on board before beginning to wish that he had 

 taken her with him. She was a flat-bottomed, 

 shallow-draught old tub drawing about two feet, 

 and we towed two small lighters astern laden with 

 I know not what. Her sole accommodation con- 

 sisted of two cabins, each about the size of a large 

 packing case, and placed in the stern of the vessel. 

 In each of these, two microscopic wooden bunks 

 had been squeezed, so that with four passengers 

 on board the maximum accommodation was ex- 

 hausted. These were innocent of mosquito-cur- 

 tains, and, so far as I can recollect, destitute of 

 any other sort of convenience. Buckets of water 

 outside on deck were provided for the passengers' 

 ablutions, and the daily bath was an event for the 

 preparation and enjoyment of which the whole 

 morning seemed all too short and fleeting. To 

 begin with, there was no bath, nor was there any 

 place wherein such a luxury could have been in- 

 stalled ; recourse, therefore, had to be had to 

 buckets, and two, placed side by side on an in- 

 conveniently narrow ledge in the very partial 

 shelter of the cabins I have just mentioned, per- 

 mitted one to stand in the " altogether," as Trilby 

 would have said, one foot in each, at the imminent 

 risk, should the vessel turn a sharp corner at the 

 moment, of being precipitated into the fast-flowing, 

 crocodile-haunted current which swept the steamer's 

 sides only a few inches below. This peril survived, 

 others had still to be faced. There was no dining 

 saloon, or any part of the deck suitable for the pur- 

 pose of dining, as such a duty is usually understood ; 



