HUNTING THE OKAPI 251 



and from his villages on the way we picked up eighty men 

 who followed in canoes, to carry our loads the six miles 

 overland round the rapids while the boats were hauled up 

 empty. With the extra help of his fine polers we passed 

 easily a strong rapid just above his town, and then pushed 

 along at a grand pace to a small village forty miles below 

 Djabbir, called Vambongo, from where we could see in the 

 distance the foam and hear the roar of the Voro Rapids, the 

 strongest and most- dangerous on the Welle. They stretch 

 for a distance of three miles and are in places a mile wide, 

 and the river is cut up by a maize of rocky islands covered 

 with palm-trees and tropical growth, between which the 

 water rushes and tumbles headlong through narrow channels 

 with beautiful cascades falling down on either side. Early 

 the next day, January 4, we set out to pass them ; there 

 were fourteen polers in each of the boats besides the men in 

 the native canoe. A heavy mist hung over the water, 

 making it impossible to see more than a few yards ahead. 



By means of our long boat chain and strenuous poling 

 we reached the head of the rapids. Here the river is divided 

 into three channels by rocks and islands ; to the right 

 a magnificent fall of water roared and swept over giant 

 boulders, the foam flying many feet into the air ; while 

 below, the swirl of the water made troughs 3 to 4 ft. deep. 

 It was the same on the left, leaving the centre passage, only a 

 little less formidable, to be faced. The native canoe was 

 borne back and sunk, but our splended Yakoma giants 

 nothing daunted, naked and with many cries, battled against 

 the foaming water. Twice we were carried back, but the 

 third time, with a superhuman struggle, the boats mounted 



