340 
APPEARANCE OF THE RIVER. 
many cases, from their having had some knowledge of 
Mr. Carr’s fate, and therefore apprehensive that the 
object of the present mission was to retaliate. 
Above Snnday Island, the current was found at 
that season to have lost much of its force, never exceed- 
ing two knots below Aboh, which taken in reference to 
steam-vessels of smaller dimensions and better propor- 
tioned powers than the ‘Wilberforce,’ affords, according 
to Lieutenant Webb’s opinion, a good argument for 
preferring to ascend the river in the month of July or 
even so early as the middle of June. 
On arriving at the branch of the river above Ingy- 
ama, through which the ‘Wilberforce’ made the passage 
in the August previous, and which Captain W. Allen 
thought might be tried on this occasion with advantage, 
it appeared to be nearly dry, and quite precluded the 
possibility of taking that route. The banks of the 
river, w'hich in the rainy season had been in many 
cases inundated, now presented an elevation, varying 
from fifteen to twenty feet, while here and there, even 
in the bed of the stream, sand banks rose several feet 
above the surface. In fact this formerly broad sheet of 
water was diminished to a narrow stream abounding 
in shoals. In the neighbourhood of the larger Benin 
Branch, which was reached on the 5th July, these 
irregular deposits of sand were so numerous, and 
intersected the river in such a variety of ways, that the 
vessel grounded several times before they succeeded in 
finding a proper channel. What rendered the naviga- 
