402 DOTTINGS ON THE ROADSIDE. [Chap. XXIV.— B. P. 
About a mile below the Mico there is a remarkable 
limestone point, with a small island close to it, the 
first in the river. Here the water is drinkable, but 
has still a heavy and unpleasant flavour; indeed, I 
was assured that it was often quite brackish as far as 
the falls below Kisilala, and I certainly saw barnacles 
on the snags close to that place. 
Off the mouth of the Mico we passed a pitpan con¬ 
taining an Indian man and woman engaged in fishing; 
the man was standing up at one end, the woman 
squatting down at the other. How they ever squeezed 
themselves into such a cockleshell of a boat, it is hard 
to conceive, much less how they kept it upright; it 
was certainly not more than twelve feet long by two 
broad, without any keel whatever, and, moreover, 
rounded upwards at both ends. Its shape was some¬ 
thing like the horse-trough in front of old-fashioned 
inns. 
Finding that we should only just reach Kisilala 
before dark, I did not stop to have a nearer view of 
these Indians, however tempting, for the amount of 
animal life hitherto seen has not been overwhelming, 
consisting only of one man, one woman, one white 
ibis, and two or three kingfishers of various sizes, 
which at rare intervals took their flight from the 
banks. 
A short distance beyond the Mico we came upon 
an Indian camp, of six families, on the left bank; it 
was a very temporary establishment, the only shel¬ 
ter being a lean-to for each family. There were 
two men, two women, a young girl, and a baby pre- 
