EXPLORATION OF THE RIVER YEI 363 



rapids near the station. The natives call the place " Ingetti 

 Mahi " (" The place of bad trees "), in reference to the thorny 

 mimosas that grow there. 



No sooner had we got over the difficulty of no wax than 

 another trouble faced us, and that was the falling of the river. 

 On the way to Raffai, in places we had to get out and carry 

 the boat along in the water as there was not sufficient depth. 

 Our spirits were not cheered by the native reports which 

 said that the river continued bad as far as Yenhari, a distance 

 of six miles. I reahsed that every hour now was precious, 

 so in order to save time I took the boat to pieces, and with 

 my last remaining cloth hired carriers and trekked the six 

 miles by the left bank to Yenhiri. 



Since leaving Yei we had travelled about 130 miles, taking 

 the long time of six weeks. In that distance we had fallen 

 390 ft. 



At a small village called Digo where we stopped for the 

 night, the chief was brought to me on a stretcher by his six 

 wives to ask for medicine. The poor man was in the last 

 stage of sleeping sickness and had not eaten for five days. 

 It was pitiful to hear his behef that the white man could heal 

 him. I could do nothing but give him some quinine. The 

 people of a deserted village I passed through before Digo had 

 been wiped out by the disease. It seems but too evident 

 that this terrible scourge is making its way up into the 

 Bahr-el-Grhazel, for it is only of recent years that it has 

 become known in the Lado Enclave. 



Towards noon of the next day we approached Yenhari, 

 whose aged chief came out to meet me leaning on the arm of 

 his headman. In front of him walked a man carrying two 



