CHAPTER XVI 



Aaron and Elisheba — Their Characteristics — Anecdotes — 

 Jealousy of Aaron 



FOUR days after the death of Moses I secured passage 

 on a trading boat that came into the lake. The boat 

 was a small affair, intended for towing canoes, and not 

 in any way prepared to carry passengers or cargo ; but I 

 found room in one of the canoes to set the cage I had 

 provided for Aaron, stowed the rest of my effects wherever 

 space permitted, and embarked for the coast. 



Our progress was slow and the journey tedious. The 

 only passage out of the lake at that season is through a 

 long, narrow, winding creek beset by sand bars, rocks, logs, 

 and snags, and in some places overhung by low, bending 

 trees. But the wild, weird scenery is grand and beautiful. 

 Long lines of bamboo, broken here and there by groups 

 of pendanus or stately palms ; islands of lilies, and long 

 sweeps of papyrus spreading away from the banks on either 

 side ; the gorgeous foliage of aquatic plants, drooping along 

 the margin like a massive fringe and relieved by clumps of 

 tall, waving grass, forms a perfect Eden for the birds and the 

 monkeys that dwell among those scenes of eternal summer. 



After a delay of eight days at Cape Lopez, we secured 

 passage on a small French gunboat called the Komo, by 

 which we came to Gaboon. There I found another kulu- 



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