I IO 
A Visit to Banza Chisalla. 
vain to ask anything empty-handed, I took with 
me a fine spangled cloak, a piece of chintz, and a 
case of ship’s rum, the whole worth ^9. 
At 6.30A.M. on September 5th we set out up 
stream in a fine canoe, wall-sided and rather crank, 
but allowing the comfort of chairs. She was of 
Mayumba make, superior to anything built on the 
river, and the six men that drove her stood up to 
pole and paddle. Above Boma the hills, which 
are the outlines of the west African Ghats, form a 
graceful semicircle, separated from the water by a 
flat terrace garnished with little villages and tree- 
islets. On the north bank are many of the crater¬ 
like sinks which dot the coast from the Gaboon to 
Loango. We hugged the right side to avoid the 
rapid swirl; there was no backwater at the points, 
and hard work was required to prevent our being 
swept against the boulders of gneiss, schiste, and 
pudding-stone edging the shores and stretching 
into the stream. Here the fish is excellent as at 
Porto da Lenha, and we found the people catching 
it in large spoon-shaped basins : I enquired about 
the Peixe mulher (woman-fish), the French sirene> 
which old missioners describe as an African mer¬ 
maid, not exactly as she appeared to the “ lovely 
lord of Colonsay,” and which Barbot figures with 
“two strutting breasts.” He makes the flesh taste 
like pork, and tells us that the small bones of the 
hand were good for gravel, whilst bracelets made 
