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HOMEW ARDS. 203 
in tone) against the foliage, and the whole effect of the 
erouping made a very pretty composition. We heard _ 
other elephants in the interior of the island, breaking 
down trees and branches, and, curiously enough, round 
this solitary creature on the beach were several Hyphcene 
palms laid low, torn down by the voracious elephant for 
the sake of their round, yellow fruit, of which he is so 
ravenously fond. That troop of elephants must have 
reached the island by swimming, as even in the dry . 
season there is water between it and the mainland—a 
broad channel, in fact. The island is of some magnitude, 
and is covered with over a thousand palm-trees. 
We landed a short distance from the place where I had 
seen the elephant, and camped out for the night on a 
very small space of sand, which was unfortunately all ona 
slant, so that during the night I was constantly gliding, 
feet foremost, off my bed. Add to this myriads of mos- 
quitoes, and it will seem as if the prospect appeared 
dismal; nevertheless I passed a fairly agreeable evening. 
The soup was an immense success, and then Janssen_ 
had given me some delicious wild honey, which bbe? 
pleasantly varied the repast. 
On the morning succeeding the storm, rain-clouds still 
sullied the sky, but the sun soon overmastered them, and 
the day became fine and hot. Towards noon, the men 
asked to stop a little while at a large village on the south 
bank of the Congo to buy provisions. I gave them a 
quarter of an hour to effect their purchases, and dis- 
embarked myself to go and visit some travelling Ba-yansi 
who were encamped on the shore. They were the same 
party that had visited Msuata a few days ago to trade, 
and when I landed they rushed forward with loud cries of 
recognition. Indeed their greeting was quite affectionate. 
They patted my back, shook hands with me vigorously, 
and led me to look at their encampment. These people 
certainly understand how to journey comfortably accord- 
ing to the best of their means. A number of littl—what 
shall I call them ?—+tents, hovels, huts, were constructed 
out of matting, impenetrable to the rain, and in shape 
