‘CHAP. X.] 
THE FERRY OF AT AD A. 
295 
perfectly mad, and declared that we should be mur¬ 
dered immediately when on the other side; how¬ 
ever, they prepared for crossing the river in case of 
treachery. 
At the last moment, when the boat was about to 
leave the shore, two of the best men jumped in with 
their guns ; however, the natives positively refused to 
start; therefore to avoid suspicion, I ordered them to 
retire, but I left word that on the morrow I would send 
the canoe across with supplies, and that one or two 
men should endeavour to accompany the boat to our 
side on every trip. 
It was quite dark when we started: the canoe was 
formed of a large hollow tree, capable of holding twenty 
people, and the natives paddled us across the rapid 
current just below the falls. A large fire was blazing 
upon the opposite shore, on a level with the river, to 
guide us to the landing place. Gliding through a 
narrow passage in the reeds, we touched the shore and 
landed upon a slippery rock close to the fire, amidst a 
crowd of people, who immediately struck up a deafen¬ 
ing welcome with horns and flageolets, and marched 
us up the steep face of the rocky cliff through a dark 
grove of bananas. Torches led the way, followed by a 
long pile of spearmen; then came the noisy band and 
ourselves—I towing my wife up the precipitous path, 
while my few attendants followed behind with a 
number of natives who had volunteered to carry the 
luggage. 
On arrival at the top of the cliff we were about 180 
feet above the river, and after a walk of about a quarter 
of a mile we were triumphantly led into the heart of 
the village, and halted in a small courtyard in front of 
the headman s residence. 
Keedja waited to receive us by a blazing fire. Not 
having had anything to eat, we were uncommonly 
hungry, and to our great delight a basketful of ripe 
plantains was presented to us; these were the first that 
I had seen for many years. A gourd bottle of plantain 
