22 
II. THE JOURNEY 
came in sight of the harbour, an anxiety seized me 
which I had felt before occasionally during the last 
week or so. The custom house and the duties ! During 
the latter part of the voyage all sorts of tales had been 
told at meal times about the colonial duties. "Ten 
per cent, on the value of all you brin^^zoii^ have to 
fork out ! ” said an old African. " And whether the 
things are new or old doesn’t matter in the least ! ’’ 
added another. However, the customs officer was 
fairly gracious to us. Perhaps the anxious faces we 
showed, as we laid before him the list of the things in 
our seventy cases, toned him down to a gentler mood, 
and we returned to the ship with a delightful feeling of 
relief, to sleep in it for the last time. But it was an 
uncomfortable night : cargo was being unloaded and 
coal taken in, till the negroes at the cranes could no 
longer stand for weariness. 
* 
* * 
Early on Tuesday we transferred to the Alembe, 
which, being a river boat, was built broad and shallow, 
and its two paddle-wheels were side by side at the 
stern, where they are safe from wandering tree trunks. 
It took up only the passengers and their personal 
luggage, being already full of cargo. Our cases were 
to follow in the next boat a fortnight later. We 
started at 9 a. m., so as to pass safely at high tide over 
the sandbanks which block the mouth of the Ogowe, 
and a few passengers who had stayed on shore too long 
were left behind. They overtook us, however, later on 
in a motor boat. 
River and forest . . . ! Who can really describe 
the first impression they make ? We seemed to be 
