EXPLORATION OF THE KIBALI 321 



another storm broke from the south-east with hailstones as 

 big as beans. 



Between Dungu and Vankerckhovenville there are many- 

 rapids and the navigation of the river was performed under 

 very great diflS.culties. Our rate of going was often only 

 one mile an hour, paddling the whole time against a strong 

 current with an average depth of 10 ft., and there were 

 days when we made only two and a half miles. 



Before reaching the Arama hills the formidable Makassa 

 and Bari Rapids had to be overcome. The former, which 

 are 400 yards in length, consist of reefs of rock where the 

 water pours down at a gradient of one in two. In the middle 

 there is a large island dividing the rapids ; the left bank is 

 the better to pass by. Immediately below the reefs the 

 current is very strong, rushing and bounding over hidden 

 rocks and breaking with waves like a choppy sea. One of 

 the boats had a narrow escape of being sunk ; the bow was 

 twice below the level of the stream and the water poured in. 



As might be expected in the vicinity of the Arama hills, 

 the river again becomes bad and is much cut up by small 

 rapids with strong currents ; after that there is a navigable 

 distance of six miles through an open country as far as the 

 dangerous rapids of Mangadda, Tzara and Biti, caused by 

 the proximity of iron-stone hills on the left bank which are 

 practically a continuation of the Arama hills and form the 

 outside edge of the mountainous country to the south. 



Beyond the Biti Rapids there is a fine reach for fourteen 

 miles, with a current of one and a quarter miles an hour and a 

 width of sixty to eighty yards as far as the Andamanza and 

 Kobi Rapids in the vicinity of the Gaima range, and the 



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