188 
THE SMOKE-CANOE. 
our waiting some time, and holding out inducements in 
the shape of coloured handkerchiefs, &c., not one would 
venture off. They had little enclosures near the banks, 
staked off, as if for catching fish. Soon afterwards we 
came to another village on the right bank, Ogulba ; here 
some of the natives paddled alongside with a few 
bananas, plantains, and a wretchedly lean goat; but 
nothing could induce them to leave their canoes, being 
contented with a distant admiration of all that was shown; 
but though probably secretly wishing for possession, we 
^only obtained a few bananas for some needles. 
In every little creek as we proceeded, the plantain 
and banana trees were seen growing most luxuriantly — in 
some places so thickly, as to prevent the proper develop- 
ment of the fruit — not having apparently much care 
bestowed on their cultivation. At 10 a.m. we passed 
another little village on the left bank, vnth which we had 
no communication ; the natives merely taking one 
glimpse at the “ smoke-canoe,” or “ devil-ship ” and 
then starting off into the bush. 
As we advanced further into this interesting country, 
how often did the words of Isaiah present themselves, as 
so applicable to these people! “ Go ye swift messengers, to 
a nation scattered and peeled, to a people terrible from 
the beginning hitherto ; a nation meted out and trodden 
down ; whose lands the rivers have spoiled'' 
A little way above the town Ogulba, the branch we 
were in, received two others ; or rather, we came to a 
bifurcation, where the streams united to form the 
