CHAP. X.] 
THE ESCORT CROSS THE RIVER. 
303 
fortune they secretly instructed the canoe to be re¬ 
moved. I was in a great rage; and about 400 natives, 
who were present, scattered in all quarters, thinking 
that there would be a serious quarrel. I told the chiefs 
that nothing should stop me, and that I would seize 
the canoe by force unless my whole party should be 
brought over from the opposite side that instant. This 
was agreed upon. One of Ibrahim’s men exchanged 
and drank blood from the arm of Speke s deserter, who 
was Kamrasi’s representative; and peace thus firmly 
established, several canoes were at once employed, and 
sixty of our men were brought across the river before 
sunset. The natives had nevertheless taken the pre¬ 
caution to send all their women away from the village.” 
“Jan. 30 th .—This morning all remaining men and 
baggage were brought across the river, and supplies 
were brought in large quantities for sale. We are to 
march to-morrow direct to Kamrasi s capital; they say 
he will give me a guide to the lake. 
“ The natives of this country are particularly neat in 
all they do ; they never bring anything to sell unless 
carefully packed in the neatest parcels, generally formed 
of the bark of the plantain, and sometimes of the inner 
portions of reeds stripped into snow-white stalks, which 
are bound round the parcels with the utmost care. 
Should the plantain cider, ‘ maroua/ be brought in a 
jar, the mouth is neatly covered with a fringe-like mat 
of these clean white rushes split into shreds. Not even 
tobacco is brought for sale unless most carefully 
packed. During a journey, a pretty, bottle-shaped, 
long-necked gourd is carried with a store of plantain 
cider ; the mouth of the bottle is stopped with a bundle 
of the white rush shreds, through which a reed is 
inserted that reaches to the bottom : thus the drink 
can be sucked up during the march without the necessity 
of halting; nor is it possible to spill it by the move¬ 
ment of walking. 
“ The natives prepare the .skins of goats very beauti¬ 
fully, making them as soft as chamois leather; these 
