228 CANOE ACCIDENT. CHAP. VIII. 



saved." " I cannot swim," said the Batoka. " Jump out, 

 then, and hold on to the canoe ; " which he instantly did. 

 Swimming alongside, they guided the swamping canoes 

 down the swift current to the foot of the rapid, and then 

 ran them ashore to bale them out. A boat could have 

 passed down safely, but our canoes were not a foot above 

 the water at the gunwales. 



Thanks to the bravery of these poor fellows, nothing 

 was lost, although everything was well soaked. This 

 rapid is nearly opposite the west end of the Mburuma 

 mountains or Karivua. Another soon begins below it. 

 They are said to be all smoothed over when the river 

 rises. The canoes had to be unloaded at this the worst 

 rapid, and the goods carried about a hundred yards. By 

 taking the time in which a piece of stick floated past 100 

 feet, we found the current to be running six knots, by far 

 the greatest velocity noted in the river. As the men 

 were bringing the last canoe down close to the shore, the 

 stern swung round into the current, and all except one 

 man let go, rather than be dragged off. He clung to the 

 bow, and was swept out into the middle of the stream. 

 Having held on when he ought to have let go, he next 

 put his life in jeopardy by letting go when he ought to 

 have held on ; and was in a few seconds swallowed up by 

 a fearful whirlpool. His comrades launched out a canoe 

 below, and caught him as he rose the third time to the 

 surface, and saved him, though much exhausted and very 

 cold. 



The scenery of this pass reminded us of Kebrabasa, 

 although it is much inferior. A band of the same black 

 shining glaze runs along the rocks about two feet from 

 the water's edge. There was not a blade of grass on some 

 of the hills, it being the end of the usual dry season 

 succeeding a previous severe drought; yet the hill-sides 

 were dotted over with beautiful green trees. A few 



