10 LIVING STONE'S LAST JOURNALS. [Chap. I. 



shallower. There was no wind for the dhow, and as for the 

 man-of-war towing her, it was out of the question. On the 

 23rd the cutter did try to tow the dhow, but without success, 

 as a strong tide runs constantly out of the river at this season. 

 A squall came up from the S.E., which would have taken 

 the dhow in, but the master was on board the Penguin, and 

 said he had no large sail. I got him off to his vessel, but 

 the wind died away before we could reach the mouth of the 

 river. 



24.th March. — I went to the dhow, and there being no wind 

 I left orders with the captain to go up the right bank should 

 a breeze arise. Mr. Fane, midshipman, accompanied me up 

 the left bank above, to see if we could lead the camels along 

 in the water. Near the point where the river first makes a 

 little bend to the north, we landed and found three formid- 

 able gullies, and jungle so thick with bush, date-palms, 

 twining bamboo, and hooked thorns, that one could scarcely 

 get along. Further inland it was sticky mud, thickly planted 

 over with mangrove roots and gullies in whose soft banks one 

 sank over the ankles. No camels could have moved, and 

 men with extreme difficulty might struggle through ; but 

 we never could have made an available road. We came to 

 a she-hippopotamus lying in a ditch, which did not cover 

 her; Mr. Fane fired into her head, and she was so upset 

 that she nearly fell backward in plunging up the opposite 

 bank : her calf was killed, and was like sucking-pig, though 

 in appearance as large as a full-grown sow. 



We now saw that the dhow had a good breeze, and she 

 came up along the right bank and grounded at least a mile 

 from the spot where the mangroves ceased. The hills, about 

 two hundred feet high, begin about two or three miles above 

 that, and they looked invitingly green and cool. My com- 

 panion and I went from the dhow inland, to see if the man- 

 groves gave way, to a more walkable country, but the swamp 

 covered over thickly with mangroves only became worse the 



