510 
AFRICA AND ITS EXPLORATION. 
river’s bank, I took it into my head to descend tlie 
stream in my india-rubber boat. Having ordered it to 
be conveyed to the river, I broke up my camp, and, 
entrusting the command of the caravan to Verissimo, I 
embarked with two young niggers, my attendant 
Catraio and another little fellow, about twelve years of 
age, called Sinjamba, the son of a Bilieno carrier, whom 
I had selected for his knowledge of the Gaimuella 
tongue, and converted into my interpreter. I confess 
that it was not without a certain trepidation that I 
pushed off from the bank into the middle of an unknown 
stream, with mere children for companions and a fragile 
canvas boat beneath me. 
The river, which has its source 30 miles to the N., 
and is, as I have already mentioned, 16 yards across 
and 19 feet deep at Cangamba, widens out a little 
below that village, and shortly displays a breadth of 
40 to 50 yards, and occasionally even more. Its bottom, 
varying from 10 to 19 feet in depth, is covered with a 
fine white sand, which evidently rests upon a bed of 
mud, as the aquatic flora is something wonderful. 
Many kinds of rushes and other aquatic plants take 
root in the prolific bed, shoot their leaves and stems, 
in constant motion with the current, through nearly 
20 feet of water till they reach the surface, where they 
display their multi-coloured and elegantly shaped 
flowers. Occasionally this wealth of vegetation will 
occupy the whole expanse of the river, and seem to 
bar the passage of any floating thing. At the outset 
I had some hesitation about venturing my boat upon 
this aquatic meadow, as I thought it betokened too 
shallow a depth of water for navigation ; but when 
my sound constantly gave me 12 and then 20 feet of 
depth, I acquired more confidence, and steered boldly 
through the floating garden. There were points, indeed, 
where we came to a dead-lock. These were places 
where the current, owing to some peculiarity of the 
river-bed, was scarcely perceptible, and the vegetation 
was so thick that it was more like a virgin forest than 
the growth of aquatic plants. 
