470 
TRAVELS IN AFRICA. Chap. XXXY. 
and twenty-six inches wide in the middle ; but it was 
now out of repair, and was lying upside down. It 
was from this point, standing upon the bottom of the 
boat, that I made the sketch of this most interesting 
locality. 
The canoemen still delaying to come, I could not 
resist the temptation of taking a river bath, a luxury 
which I had not enjoyed since bathing in the Eury- 
medon. The river is full of crocodiles ; but there 
could be little danger from these animals after all 
our firing and the constant noise of so many people. 
I had not yet arrived at the conviction, that river- 
bathing is not good for a European in a tropical 
climate, but this was the first and last time that I 
bathed voluntarily, with a single exception, for when 
navigating the river of Logon on a fine day in March, 
1852, 1 could not help jumping overboard, and on my 
return from Bagirmi, in August 1853, I was obliged 
to do it. 
The bed of the river, after the first foot and a half, 
sloped down very gradually, so that at the distance 
of thirty yards from the shore I had not more than 
three feet and a half of water, but then it suddenly 
became deep. The current was so strong, that I was 
unable to stem it ; but my original strength, I must 
allow, was at the time already greatly reduced. The 
only advantage which I derived from this feat was 
that of learning that the river carries gold with it ; 
for the people, as often as I dipped under water, cried 
out that I was searching for this metal, and when I 
