In Afric’s Forest and Jungle 
bringing up in the rear of his company. I next 
started the carriers with my wife’s hammock and 
then followed on my pony. For several miles 
the carriers continued their trot and 1 found it 
difficult to keep up with them; but when the sun 
began to get hot they quieted down. We 
rested several hours during the hottest part of each 
day and made up the time by travelling early in 
the morning and late in the afternoon. So soon 
as we could see well, we started and then 
stopped for breakfast about eight o’clock. We 
then resumed our journey until noon. Resting 
until three o’clock we travelled until darkness 
made it unsafe. In this way we managed to en¬ 
dure the intolerable rays of the tropical sun, 
which seemed to pierce the thick covering of our 
white umbrellas like points of steel. 
We passed the nights in the thatched mud 
huts of wayside villages temporarily established 
for purposes of trade with passing caravans. We 
met several of these caravans composed of hun¬ 
dreds of carriers of both sexes hurrying on to the 
coast. Palm-oil in larger carboy-like calabashes, 
and elephants’ tusks, seemed to constitute the 
chief articles of export from the interior. The 
traders who were transporting these things, 
could be distinguished from their carriers by their 
46 
