OUT INTO THE ATLANTIC. 
545 
tion dwelling in a mere skeleton village in the centre of 
bleakness. Shingly rocks strewed the path and the waste, 
and thin sere grass waved mournfully on level and spine, 
on slope of ridge and crest of hill ; in the hollows it was 
somewhat thicker ; in the bottoms it had a slight tinge 
of green. 
We had gradually descended some five hundred feet 
along declining spurs when we saw a scattered string of 
hammocks appearing, and gleams of startling whiteness 
such as were given by fine linen and twills. 
A buzz of wonder ran along our column. 
Proceeding a little farther, we stopped, and in a short 
time I was face to face with four white — ay, truly white 
men ! 
As I looked into their faces, I blushed to find that I 
was wondering at their paleness. Poor pagan Africans 
— Rwoma of Uzinja, and man-eating tribes of the Living- 
stone ! The w T hole secret of their wonder and curiosity 
flashed upon me at once. What arrested the twanging 
bow and the deadly trigger of the cannibals ? What but 
the weird pallor of myself and Frank ! In the same 
manner the sight of the pale faces of the Embomma 
merchants gave me the slightest suspicion of an involun- 
tary shiver. The pale colour, after so long gazing on 
rich black and richer bronze, had something of an unac- 
countable ghastliness. I could not divest myself of the 
feeling that they must be sick ; yet, as I compare their 
complexions to what I now view, I should say they were 
olive, sunburnt, dark. 
On the 11th, at noon, after a last little banquet 
and songs, hearty cheers, innumerable toasts, and 
fervid claspings of friendly hands, we embarked. An 
hour before sunset the “big iron canoe,” after a de- 
scent of about thirty-five miles, hauled in shore, on 
the right bank, and made fast to the pier of another 
of Hatton and Cookson’s factories at Ponta da Lenha, 
or Wooded Point. Two or three other Portuguese 
factories are in close neighbourhood to it, lightening 
the gloom of the background of black mangrove and 
forest. 
2 N 
VOL. II. 
