284 The Yellala of the Congo. 
The eastern staple rises at first sheer from the 
water s edge to the estimated altitude of a thou¬ 
sand feet,—this is the “Crocodile’s Head” which 
we saw on the last march, and already the thin 
rains are robing its rocky surface with tender 
green. The strata are disposed at angles, varying 
from 35 0 to 45 0 , and three streaks of bright trees 
denote Fiumaras about to be filled. Opposite it 
is the “Quoin Hill,” bluff to the stream, and fall¬ 
ing west with gradual incline. The noise of this 
higher fall can hardly be heard at Nkulu, except 
on the stillest nights. 
Below the upper gate, the bed, now narrowing 
to 300 yards, shows the great Yellala; the waters, 
after breaking into waves for a mile and a half 
above, rush down an inclined plane of some thirty 
feet in 300 yards, spuming, colliding and throwing 
up foam, which looks dingy white against the dull 
yellow-brown of the less disturbed channel—the 
movement is that of waves dashing upon a pier. 
The bed is broken by the Zunga chya Malemba, 
which some pronounced Sanga chya Malemba, 
an oval islet in mid-stream, whose greater diameter 
is disposed along the axis of the bed. The north¬ 
western apex, raised about fifty feet above the pre¬ 
sent level of the waters, shows a little bay of pure 
sand, the detritus of its rocks, with a flood-mark 
fifteen feet high, whilst the opposite side bears a 
few wind-wrung trees. The materials are gneiss 
