Chap XVIII. FLOODED VALLEYS. 227 



blanket " for 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 towards the Kasai. 

 The mid-stream was so rapid that we crossed by holding on 

 to the oxen, which were carried by the force of the current 

 to the opposite bank ; we then jumped off, and pulled them 

 on to the shallower part. The rest of the valley was thigh- 

 deep and boggy, but, by holding on by the belt which fast 

 the blanket to the ox, we floundered through as well as we 

 could. These boggy parts stretched for miles along each 

 bank ; but even here, though the rapidity of the current was 

 very considerable, the thick sward of grass was " laid " flat 

 along the sides of the stream, and the soil was not so much 

 abraded as to discolour the flood. On the opposite side of 

 this valley we met with some pieces of the ferruginous 

 conglomerate which forms the capping of all the rocks in the 

 surrounding district : the oxen bit at them as if surprised at 

 the appearance of stone, or perhaps because it contained some 

 mineral of which they stood in need. The country is covered 

 with deep alluvial soil of a dark colour and very fertile. 



In the afternoon we came to another stream, named nuana 

 Loke (or child of Loke), with a bridge over it, which, 

 however, was so deeply flooded that the men had to swim ofl 

 to it, and when on it were breast-deep. Some preferred 

 holding on by the tails of the oxen the whole way across, and 

 I intended to do this, but, before I could dismount, the ox 

 dashed off with his companions, and soon sank so deep that I 

 failed even to catch the blanket belt, and was obliged to 

 strike out for the opposite bank alone. My poor fellows were 

 dreadfully alarmed when they saw me parted from the cattle ; 

 about twenty of them made a simultaneous rush into the 

 water for my rescue, and just as I reached the opposite bank 

 one seized my arm, and another clasped me round the body. 

 ^Yhen I stood up it was most gratifying to see them all 

 struggling towards me. Some had leaped off the bridge, and 

 allowed their cloaks to float down the stream. Tart of my 

 goods, abandoned in the hurry, were brought up from the 

 bottom after I was safe. Great was the pleasure expressed 

 when they found that I could swim like themselves, and I 

 felt most grateful to these poor heathens for the promptitude 



