342 THE KEBRABASA. 



ceivable position, afford a picture of dislocation or unconforma- 

 bility which would gladden a geological lecturer's heart ; but at 

 high flood this rough channel is all smoothed over, and it then 

 conforms well with the river below it, which is half a mile wide. 

 In the dry season the stream runs at the bottom of a narrow 

 and deep groove, whose sides are polished and fluted by the 

 boiling action of the water in flood, like the rims of ancient 

 Eastern wells by the draw-ropes. The breadth of the groove is 

 often not more than from forty to sixty yards, and it has some 

 sharp turnings, double channels, and little cataracts in it. The 

 masts of the ' Ma Robert/ though some thirty feet high, did not 

 reach the level of the flood-channel above, and the man in the 

 chains sung out, ' No bottom at ten fathoms.' Huge pot-holes, 

 as large as draw-wells, had been worn in the sides, and were so 

 deep that in some instances, when protected from the sun by 

 overhanging boulders, the water in them was quite cool. Some 

 of these holes had been worn right through, and only the side 

 next the rock remained ; while the sides of the groove of the 

 flood-channel were polished as smooth as if they had gone 

 through granite-mills. The pressure of the water must be 

 enormous to produce this polish. It had wedged round pebbles 

 into chinks and crannies of the rocks so firmly that, though 

 they looked quite loose, they could not be removed except with 

 a hammer. It is strange that the Portuguese had continued so 

 long in comparative ignorance of an object of so much interest 

 which was so near them. All the information which our friends 

 obtained from these remarkable colonists was that ' three or 

 four detached rocks jutted out into the river at Kebrabasa, 

 which, though dangerous to the cumbersome native canoes, 

 could be easily passed by a steamer ; and that if one or two of 

 these obstructions were blasted away by gunpowder there would 

 be no further difficulty.' " But the painful exploration of several 

 miles convinced the party that they must prepare for more 

 serious work than they had anticipated ; that, in fact, the mere 

 examination of the rapids was a more considerable task than 

 their removal had been supposed to be. They therefore re- 

 turned to the boat and went down the river for fresh supplies. 

 When they cast anchor a second time at the foot of the hills, 

 they were prepared for a serious survey of the region. It was 



