90 
Up the Congo River . 
mirage played the usual fantastic tricks. The 
mangrove, which Tuckey’s introduction prolongs 
to fifty miles from the mouth, now disappears; in 
fact, it does not extend much above Bullock Island, 
nineteen direct miles on the chart from Shark 
Point and, as usual, it enables us to measure the 
extreme limit where the salt-tide ascends. The 
palhabote went gallantly, 
“ The water round her bows 
Dancing as round a drinking cup.” 
Small trembling waves poppled and frothed in 
mid-stream, where the fresh water met wind and 
tide ; and by the “ boiling ” of the surface we saw 
that there was still a strong under-current flowing 
against the upper layer. A little beyond the factory 
we were shown on the northern bank Mariquita 
Nook, where the slaver of that name, commanded 
by a Captain Bowen, had shipped some 520 men. 
She was captured by H.M. Steamship “ Zebra,” 
Commander Hoskins, after being reported by a 
chief, whom her captain had kicked, to a trader at 
the river mouth, and by him to the cruizer. Slavers 
used to show their sense by starting on Sundays, 
when the squadron kept a careless look-out; but 
their inevitable danger was the general “ drunk ” of 
the officers and crew to celebrate the event, and this 
libation often caused delays which led to seizure. 
It was an admirable site, a bit of golden sand 
fronting the cleared bush, commanding an unbroken 
