64 A JOURNEY UP THE RIVER CONGO. 
satisfaction in the little weirs and back-waters of the 
river. After his bath the prince of Yelala went and sat 
on a cool ledge of rock under the overhanging grotto. 
Here he invited me to come and partake of an “impromptu . 
meal of grilled fish. This I was in nowise loth to do; so 
we got out some salt, and some young ears of green Indian 
corn, which the thoughtful Zanzibaris had brought with — 
them, and ate a most appetising breakfast of roasted maize 
and orilled fish—fish that a few minutes before had been 
gasping in the wicker-traps, and that were now served to 
us with their tails in their mouths, precisely as whiting 
are at home. 
When my sketches of the Falls were finished, I wished 
to return, and, in spite of the noonday sun, began to 
clamber up the rocks, and regain the mountain path 
leading to the village. The old chief, wiser than I, tried 
hard to persuade me to rest by the cool river-side until 
evening ; but, somehow, a strange fit of obstinacy possessed 
me, and I ran a very near risk of getting sunstroke as a 
reward. The fierce heat radiating from the rocks—which, 
indeed, were too hot to be touched without hurting the 
hand—and the exhausting toil up this succession of stone 
blocks were too much for me, and, by the time I reached 
the outskirts of the groves bordering the village, I threw 
myself down in the grateful shade utterly sick and faint. 
I only mention this unimportant fact to show you that 
some Africans are really susceptible of thoughtful kind- 
ness ; for, in this case, the old chief, seeing me exhausted 
and ill, became most concerned, and sent off one boy to 
the village to bring me some of his precious rum, and 
another to the nearest brook for a calabash of cold water. 
Whilst these messengers were absent, he cut a large 
banana leaf, and fanned me with it cently, looking all the 
time most sympathizing. I-revived long before the rum 
came, though unfortunately the old chief insisted on my 
taking a drain of this nauseous compound. On my return 
to the village, he supported me carefully with one arm; 
and altogether, though my slight indisposition was un- 
worthy all this attention on his part, the Chief of Yelala 
