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ISANGILA TO MANYANGA. | 101 
presented himself at the mission, not to thank its head for 
saving his life, but to demand a piece of cloth because his 
life was saved. On the occasion of this particular visit 
to the station, he was accompanied by the widowed chief 
whose wife he was supposed to have bewitched. They 
were now on the most amicable terms, and the widowed 
one, having daubed his ugly face with charcoal in sign of 
mourning, gave himself up to unlimited merriment, and 
was thinking, he told me, of marrying again. 
Above Manyanga all further navigation of the river 
ceases, and there are quite close to the station the great 
falls of Ntombo Mataka, where the successive descents of 
the Congo, as nearly as anywhere, approach cascades in 
appearance. Seen from the heights above, these falls 
appear like two great “steps” of water, and the river here 
descends perhaps some thirty feet in all. The roar of the 
cataract can be heard miles off, and the backwater it 
creates is so powerful, that at the sides of the river the 
water persistently flows with a strong stream in the 
reverse direction to the central current. It needs some 
care to cross the river near the station lest the boat be 
drawn into the backwater, to be carried forcibly up into 
the cataracts, whirled round and dashed to pieces. 
To reach Stanley Pool therefore, from Manyanga, you 
leave the Congo, and follow the native roads either to the 
north or south of the river. The southern route is by far 
the easier and safer to follow, as the hills are less steep, 
and the natives are pleasanter and kindlier people to deal 
with than the cantankerous Ba-bwende to the north. In 
either case the distance to be walked on foot is about one 
hundred miles. 
Some few miles behind Manyanga, one of the much- 
used native tracks passes from Stanley Pool to the upper 
waters of the Niari and its tributary the Ludima, and 
thence to the sea. This useful alternative route has been 
thoroughly mapped and surveyed by Mr. Stanley’s agents 
who have founded a chain of stations along its course.* 
* Which was afterwards given up to France, 
