138 Up the Congo to Banza Nokki . 
so sturdy a growth. The other trees are the 
mfuma, cotton-tree or bombax (Pentandria trunco- 
spinoso , Smith), much valued as a canoe : Merolla 
uses Mafuma, a plural form, and speaks of its 
“wonderful fine wool.” The wild figs show 
glorious stature, a truly noble growth, whose 
parents were sun and water. 
The birds were lank black divers (Plotus), ex¬ 
ceedingly wild ; the African roller ( Coracias ) ; 
halcyons of several species, especially a white and 
black kingfisher, nimble and comely; many swal¬ 
lows, horn-bills, and wild pigeons which made the 
bush resound; ardeine birds, especially a heron, 
like the large Indian “kullum;” kites, crows, 
“ whip-poor-wills,” and a fine haliaetus, which flies 
high and settles upon the loftiest branches. One 
of these eagles was shot, after a gorge of the 
electric fish here common ; its coat was black and 
white, and the eyes yellow, with dark pupils. 
Various lizards ran over the rocks; and we failed 
to secure a water-snake, the only specimen seen on 
the whole trip. 
About noon we struggled past Point Masalla, 
our “ Diamond Rock,” a reef ending in a trian¬ 
gular block, towering abruptly, and showing by 
drift-wood a flood-line now twelve feet high. 
There are several of these “ bench-marks;” and 
the people declare that after every few years an 
unusual freshet takes place. PIere the current 
