X 



TRAVELS IN EASTERN AFRICA 



475 



trading, and raiding the country to the north, had 

 constructed a bridge of Hght withes, sufficiently strong 

 for them to cross, but utterly insufficient for laden 

 porters or donkeys. With the assistance of these 

 natives we found our beasts and burdens landed 

 shortly before dark on the island nearest the farther 

 bank. The crossing of the streams flowing through the 

 different channels was a difficult matter. Ofttimes we 

 were completely submerged, and it was with the great- 

 est difficulty that we managed to get the donkeys and 

 few cattle we had with us across. Four men took 

 charge of each beast, two at its head and two at its 

 tail. When they reached mid-stream, where the 

 water was quite up to the men's chins, the force of 

 the current drove the animal along, and it required 

 almost superhuman efforts on the part of the men to 

 prevent the animal, as well as themselves, from disap- 

 pearing beneath the flood. 



The next day I awoke at dawn, and went to look 

 at the cataract, whose roar had lulled me to sleep 

 during the night. Just above the end of the island 

 upon which we were encamped, the river-bed fell 

 some thirty feet, and over this ledge roared the 

 Tana; below this it was forced by jagged rocks to 

 divide its waters into three streams. Two of these, 

 which are nearest the island, fall twenty feet, pass- 

 ing on both sides of a sheer mass of gray stone. 

 There the water boiled and roared, and a blinding 

 mist filled the air. At this point the stream was 

 spanned by a few loosely tied withes and poles. 



Such was the crossing-place. Nature never intended 

 it to be thus used, I felt sure; and it seemed a satire 



