FLOODED VALLEYS. 207 



paths in front, and if we did not at once present thern 

 with a cloth they would leave us to take whichever we 

 might like hest. As I had pointed out the direction in 

 which Loanda lay, and had only employed them for the 

 Bake of knowing the paths between villages which lay 

 along our route, and always objected when they led us in 

 any other than the Loanda direction, I wished my men 

 now to go on without the guides, trusting to ourselves to 

 choose the path which would seem to lead us in the direction 

 we had always followed. But Mashauana, fearing lest wo 

 might wander, asked leave to give his own cloth, and when 

 the guides saw that they came forward, shouting, "Averie! 

 Averie !" 



In the afternoon of this day we came to a valley about 

 a mile wide, filled with clear, fast-flowing water. The men 

 on foot were chin deep in crossing, and we three on ox-back 

 got wet to the middle, the weight of the animals preventing 

 them from swimming. A thunder-shower descending com- 

 pleted the partial drenching of the plain, and gave a cold, 

 uncomfortable " packing in a wet blanket" that night. 

 Next day we found another flooded valley about half a 

 mile wide, with a small and now deep rivulet in its middle, 

 flowing rapidly to the S.S.E., or toward the Kasai. The 

 middle part of this flood, being the bed of what at other 

 times is the rivulet, was so rapid that we crossed by holding 

 on to the oxen, and the current soon dashed them to the 

 opposite bank : we then jumped off, and, the oxen being re- 

 lieved of their burdens, we could pull them on to the shal- 

 lower part. The rest of the valley was thigh deep and 

 boggy, but, holding on by the belt which fastened the blanket 

 to the ox, we each floundered through the nasty slough as 

 well as we could. 



In the afternoon we came to another stream, nuana Loke, 

 for child of Loke,) with a bridge over it. The men had to 

 swim off to each end of the bridge, and when on it were 

 breast deep : some preferred holding on by the tails of the 

 oxen the whole way across. I intended to do this too ; 



