336 
FLOODED VALLEYS. 
Ckap. XYIII. 
flooded valley about half a mile wide, with a small and now deep 
rivulet in its middle, flowing rapidly to the S.S.E. or towards 
the Kasai. The middle part of this flood, being the bed of what 
at other times is the rivulet, was so rapid that we crossed by 
holding on to the oxen, and the current soon dashed them to the 
opposite bank; we then jumped off, and, the oxen being relieved 
of them burdens, we could pull them on to the shallower part. 
The rest of the valley was thigh deep and boggy, but holding on 
by the belt which fastened the blanket to the ox, we each floun¬ 
dered through the nasty slough as well as we could. These 
boggy parts, lying parallel to the stream, were the most extensive 
we had come to—those mentioned already were mere circum¬ 
scribed patches, these stretched for miles along each bank; but 
even here, though the rapidity of the current was very consider¬ 
able, the thick sward of grass was laid ” flat along the sides 
of the stream, and the soil was not abraded so much as to dis¬ 
colour the flood. When w^e came to the opposite side of this 
valley, some pieces of the ferruginous conglomerate, which forms 
the capping to all other rocks in a large district around and 
north of this, cropped out, and the oxen bit at them as if sm’- 
prised by the appearance of stone as much as we were ; or it may 
have contained some mineral of which they stood in need. We 
had not met with a stone since leaving Shinte’s. The country 
is covered with deep alluvial soil of a dark colour and very 
fertile. 
In the afternoon we came to another stream, huana Loke (or 
child of Loke) with a bridge over it. The men had to swim off 
to each end of the bridge, and when on it were breast deep; 
some preferred holding on by the tails of the oxen the whole 
way across. I intended to do this too, but, riding to the deep 
part, before I could dismount and seize the helm the ox dashed 
off with his companions, and his body sank so deep, that I failed 
in my attempt even to catch the blanket belt, and if I pulled 
the bridle, the ox seemed as if he would come backwards upon 
me, so I struck out for the opposite bank alone. My poor fellows 
were dreadfully alarmed when they saw me parted from the 
cattle, and about twenty of them made a simultaneous rush into 
the water for my rescue, and just as I reached the opposite bank 
one seized my arm, and another threw his around my body. 
