Up the Congo to Banza Nokki. 139 
impinges directly upon the rocks, making a strong 
eddy. “ They die each time,” said the interpreters, 
as the canoemen, with loud shouts of “ Vai ou nao 
Vai ? Vai sempre! Vai direito, ya mondele!” and 
“ Arister,” a mariners word, after failing to force 
the way, tumbled overboard, with a hawser of 
lliana to act as tow-line. “Vai direito,” according 
to Father Ciprani, also applies to a “wonderful 
bird, whose song consists in these plain words;” 
and “ Mondele” is synonymous with the Utangani 
of the Gaboon and the East African Muzungu, a 
white man. 
This bend was in former days the terminus of 
canoe travel up stream. Grisly tales of mishap 
are told; and even now a musketry salute is fired 
when boats pass without accident. Beyond Dia¬ 
mond Rock is a well-wooded, stony cove, “ Salan 
Kunkati Captain Tuckey makes this the name 
of the Diamond Rock, and translates it “ the strong 
feather.” Quartz, before in lines and bands, now 
appears in masses : the “ Coal Rock,” which the 
chart places near Insala (Bechope Point) on the 
northern bank, was probably submerged. High 
cliffs towered above us, and fragments which must 
have weighed twenty tons had slipped into the 
water; one of them bore an adansonia, growing 
head downwards. 
The next feature was Npunga Bay, low and 
leek-green, between the blue-brown water, here 
