FIRST JOURNEY IN A CANOE 43 
US hardly ever had a fly upon us : our companion 
had to endure continual annoyance, but the blacks 
were the worst sufferers. 
At mid-day we stopped at a native village, and while 
. we ate the provisions we had brought with us, our crew 
roasted their bananas. I wished that after such hard 
work they could have had some more substantial food. 
It was very late in the evening before we reached our 
destination. 
With the conference, which sat for a whole week, I 
was strongly impressed. I felt it inspiring to be 
working with men who for years had practised such 
renunciation in order to devote themselves to the 
service of the natives, and I enjoyed thoroughly the 
refreshing atmosphere of love and good-will. My pro- 
posal had a most friendly reception ; it was decided that 
the iron shed and the other hospital buildings should be 
erected on the place I had in view, and the mission 
gave me £8o (4,000 fr.) towards the cost of building. 
On our return journey we crossed the river twice in 
order to avoid groups of hippopotami, one of which 
came up only fifty yards away. Darkness had already 
come on when we reached our side channel, and for a 
whole hour we had to pick our way between sandbanks, 
the crew having now and again to jump out and pull or 
push the canoe forward. At last we got into deep water : 
the song of the crew deepened into a roar, and soon we 
saw lights moving, which advanced in zigzag lines down 
to a lower level and there came to a halt together. It was 
the ladies of Lambarene and the negro women who had 
come to meet the returning travellers at the landing 
place. The canoe cuts through the water with a whish, 
and with a last spurt is carried high up the beach. The 
