THE AUTHOR LOSES HIS WAY. 
287 
pleased that I was such a stranger to the rules of good-breeding' 
as to look at his wives, and to omit kneeling to salute him. 
When we had resumed our route, a storm overtook us as 
usual, at two o'clock ; the rain fell with such violence, that I 
could not hear my people, who walked at some distance from 
me ; I separated from them without perceiving it, and soon 
lost all traces of the path. I arrived at a river swollen by 
the rains ; the trunk of a tree which served as a bridge was 
so slippery, that fearing I might fall into the water, I placed 
myself astride upon it, and having narrowly escaped tumbling 
in twenty times, I arrived at the opposite bank, which I could 
not climb without using both hands. I was at a loss which 
way to take ; not a creature was to be seen ; the wetness of 
my clothes, which were soaked through, had produced a new 
attack of fever; I wandered about at random, fearing that I 
should not find an asylum before the close of the day. For- 
tunately Saadou made his appearance, extricated me from 
my dilemma, and conducted me to Rumbde-Koukouma, where 
we passed the night. I could not sleep a wink, which 
weakened me so much, that I remained in this place all the 
next day. 
19th June. We descended from the high mountains into a 
more level and less stony country, and left Cambréa, a large 
village inhabited by Serracolets, to our left. We then reached 
Bentala, another village of that nation, after fording a river 
of the same name, the water of which came up to our chins. 
