ASAM AND THE NEIGHBOURING COUNTRIES. 357 



impassable, and of the rivers, the Tenga alone claimed interest ; a survey 

 of the Diburii, sufficient for practical purposes, having been recently 

 made by a Native surveyor of Mr. Scott's, from whose field books I 

 protracted a map. 



The Tenga Pdni, like all the rivers in this quarter, winds through a 

 dense tree jungle : its breadth at the entrance is one hundred yards, dimi- 

 nishing soon after to eighty, the first three and a half miles the water is 

 perfectly smooth and the current moderate ; beyond this the rapids are 

 numerous, and it is no longer possible to proceed in any other boats but 

 canoes. 



Latao, a Singfo village, of six or eight houses, is the only inhabited 

 spot we saw : it stands at the angle of a deep bend, and may be seen from 

 the distance of half a mile : it was surprised by Captain Neufville's party 

 in 1825, and now, deprived of his slaves, I found the Chief, (a fine old 

 man, of a very communicative disposition,) reduced to the necessity of 

 guiding the plough with his own hands. Many of the Singfo villages 

 had suffered equally with this, and but for the trifling supplies which we 

 were able to afford from our stores at Sadiya, a great number of the 

 scanty population would probably have been compelled to emigrate to 

 Hukung. 



a 



Fish abound in the rapids of the Tenga; and river turtle, of a very 

 large size, are occasionally found and eaten by the Singfos, with great 

 relish. I witnessed the capture of one of these creatures of the largest 

 size — it was seen entering a little creek formed by a fallen tree, and a 

 canoe manned by three Singfos, was instantly planted across the opening. 

 One of them watching his opportunity, suddenly leaped on the back of 

 the animal which had descended to the bottom of the pool, and a knife 



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