STANLEY POOL. 127 
tion, and which quickly showed me how ill-prepared we 
were for the exigencies of a tropical rainy season. Ina 
large open boat, with absolutely no shelter but a hastily- 
slung sail which merely received pools of rain-water in its 
bosom to launch them on our heads when the violent wind 
gave it a twist; with no place of dry stowage for the 
luggage which just lay about in the bottom of the boat, or 
if floatable, floated here and there in the rain-water that 
in spite of the men’s efforts of constant baling, lay often 
6 inches deep in the middle of the lighter; circumstanced 
thus we had no course when it rained, but to stop rowing, 
run the boat aground, and seek for some temporary refuge 
wherein we and such of the cargo as was likely to spoil by 
constant soaking could await in shelter the return of fine 
weather. In this instance, we had scarcely rounded 
Kallina Point when the torrential rain forced us to make 
for the southern shore of the Pool, where the villages of 
Kinshasha were situated. The Zanzibaris, knowing well the 
indications of the weather, and foresceing an entire day of 
rain, wished me to descend here, and seek refuge in a native 
hut, but miserable as I felt, with the rain streaming down 
my mackintosh, and my feet an inch deep in water, I 
hesitated, for here, only a few days before, the chief of 
Léopoldville, come on a friendly mission and camped out 
in the village, had been obliged to leave in the middle of the 
night, turned out by hostile natives who regarded the arrival 
of any white man in their district with irritable suspicion. 
Would they greet me any better, much less afford me a refuge 
from the rain ? [asked myself, and supposing they not only 
refused us hospitality, but even ventured to rob and attack 
us, Should we be in a position to resist? However, my 
scruples soon ended. The prospect of quietly soaking 
all day and getting rheumatic fever, or else returning 
humiliated to Léopoldville, was more disagreeable than 
adventuring myself amongst the capricious natives, who 
perhaps themselves might be depressed and softened by 
the weather. So I left the boat, took a few necessary 
articles of luggage, and walked up through the long wet 
grass to the village, where to my pleased surprise 
