466 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
canoes as near as prudence would permit to the first 
fall of the left stream, we were ready for hauling the 
canoes overland. A road, fifteen feet in width, had 
been cut through the tangle of rattan, palms, vines, 
creepers and brushwood, tolerably straight except where 
great forest monarchs stood untouched, and whatever 
brushwood had been cut from the jungle had been laid 
across the road in thick piles. A rude camp had also 
been constructed half-way on the river side of the road, 
into which everything was conveyed. By 8 p.m. we 
had hauled the canoes over one mile of ground. 
The next day while the people were still fresh, we 
buckled on to the canoes, and by 3 p.m. of the 8th had 
passed the falls and rapids of the First Cataract, and 
were afloat in a calm creek between Baswa Island and 
the left bank ! 
Not wishing to stay in such a dangerous locality 
longer than was absolutely necessary, we re-embarked, 
and descending cautiously down the creek, came in a 
short time to the great river, with every prospect of a 
good stretch of serene water. But soon we heard the 
roar of another cataract, and had to hug the left bank 
closely. Then we entered other creeks, which wound 
lazily by jungle-covered islets, and after two miles of 
meanderings among most dismal islands and banks, 
emerged in view of the great river, with the cataract’s 
roar sounding solemnly and terribly near. As it was 
near evening, and our position was extremely unpleasant, 
we resolved to encamp for the night at an island which 
lay in mid-stream. Meanwhile, we heard drums and 
war-horns sounding on the left bank, and though the 
islanders also responded to them, of the two evils it 
was preferable to risk an encounter with the people of 
the island rather than with those of the main, until we 
could discover our whereabouts. We had no time for 
consultation, or even thought — the current was swift, 
and the hoarse roar of the Second Cataract was more 
sonorous than that of the first, thundering into our 
affrighted ears that, if we were swept over, destruction, 
sudden and utter, awaited us. 
