the friendly bateké.—great snakes.—soudi's strange adventures.—captured by hostile natives.—descending rapids and falls.—loss of a canoe.—"whirlpool rapids."—the lady alice in peril.—gavubu's cove.—"lady alice" rapids.—a perilous descent.—alarm of stanley's people.—tributary streams.—panic among the canoe-men.—native villages.—inkisi falls.—tuckey's cataract.—a road over a mountain.—among the babwendé.—african markets.—trading among the tribes.—shoeless travellers.—experiments in cooking.—limited stock of provisions.—central african ants.—"jiggas."—dangers of unprotected feet.
promptly at the hour all were in their places. frank was ready with the opened book, from which he read:
"on the 30th of march a messenger was despatched to frank to superintend the transport of the goods overland to where i had arrived with the boat. the natives continued to be very amiable, and food was abundant and cheap. they visited our camp from morning to night, bringing their produce from a great distance. they are a very gentle and harmless tribe, the western bateké, and distinguishable by four cicatrices down each cheek. they are also remarkable for their numerous bird-snares—bird-lime being furnished by the ficus sycamorus—and traps. about sunset a wide-spreading flock of large birds like parrots passed northeast over our camp, occupying nearly half an hour in passing. they were at too great an altitude to be recognized. lead-colored water-snakes were very numerous, the largest being about seven feet in length and two and one half inches in diameter.
village idols.
"confined within the deep, narrow valley of the river, the hills rising to the height of about eight hundred feet above us, and exposed to the continued uproar of the river, we became almost stunned during our stay of the 31st.
"on the 1st of april we cleared the kalulu fulls, and camped on the right[pg 318] bank below them. our two absentees on the left side had followed us, and were signalling frequently to us, but we were helpless. the next day we descended a mile and a half of rapids, and in the passage one more canoe was lost, which reduced our flotilla to thirteen vessels.
"about 2 p.m., to the general joy, appeared young soudi and our two absentees who the day before had been signalling us from the opposite side of the river!
"soudi's adventures had been very strange. he had been swept down over the upper and lower kalulu falls and the intermediate rapids, and had been whirled round so often that he became confused. 'but clinging to my canoe,' he said, 'the wild river carried me down and down and down, from place to place, sometimes near a rock, and sometimes near the middle of the stream, until an hour after dark, when i saw it was near a rock; i jumped out, and, catching my canoe, drew it on shore. i had scarcely finished when my arms were seized, and i was bound by two men, who hurried me up to the top of the mountain, and then for an hour over the high land, until we came to a village. they then pushed me into a house, where they lit a fire, and when it was bright they stripped me naked and examined me. though i pretended not to understand them, i knew enough to know that they were proud of their prize. they spoke kindly to me, and gave me plenty to eat; and while one of them slept, the other watched sharp lest i should run away. in the morning it was rumored over the village that a handsome slave was captured from a strange tribe, and many people came to see me, one of whom had seen us at ntamo, and recognized me. this man immediately charged the two men with having stolen one of the white man's men, and he drew such a picture of you, master, with large eyes of fire and long hair, who owned a gun that shot all day, that all the people became frightened, and compelled the two men to take me back to where they had found me. they at once returned me my clothes, and brought me to the place near where i had tied my canoe. they then released me, saying, "go to your king; here is food for you; and do not tell him what we have done to you; but tell him you met friends who saved you, and it shall be well with us."'
"the other two men, seeking for means to cross the river, met soudi sitting by his canoe. the three became so much encouraged at one another's presence that they resolved to cross the river rather than endure further anxiety in a strange land. despair gave them courage, and though the river was rapid, they succeeded in crossing, a mile below the place they had started from, without accident.
"on the 3d of april we descended another mile and a half of dangerous rapids, during which several accidents occurred. one canoe was upset which contained fifty tusks of ivory and a sack of beads. four men had narrow escapes from drowning, but uledi, my coxswain, saved them. i myself tumbled headlong into a small basin, and saved myself with difficulty from being swept away by the receding tide.
hilly region back from the river.
"our system of progress was to begin each day with frank leading the expedition overland to a camp at the head of some inlet, cove, or recess, near rapids or falls, where, with the older men, women, and children, he constructed a camp; the working party, consisting of the younger men, returning to assist me with the[pg 319]
[pg 320] canoes down to the new camp. anxious for the safety of the people, i superintended the river work myself, and each day led the way in the boat. on approaching rapids i selected three or four of the boat's crew (and always uledi, the coxswain), and clambered along the great rocks piled along the base of the steeply sloping hills, until i had examined the scene. if the rapids or fall were deemed impassable by water, i planned the shortest and safest route across the projecting points, and then, mustering the people, strewed a broad track with bushes, over which, as soon as completed, we set to work to haul our vessels beyond the dangerous water, when we lowered them into the river, and pursued our way to camp, where frank would be ready to give me welcome, and such a meal as the country afforded.
"at gamfwé's the natives sold us abundance of bread, or rolls of pudding, of cassava flour, maize, cassava leaves, water-cresses, and the small strychnos fruit, and, for the first time, lemons. fowls were very dear, and a goat was too expensive a luxury in our now rapidly impoverishing state.
"on the 8th we descended from gamfwé's to 'whirlpool narrows,' opposite umvilingya. when near there we perceived that the eddy tides, which rushed up river along the bank, required very delicate and skilful man?uvring. i experimented on the boat first, and attempted to haul her by cables round a rocky point from the bay near whirlpool narrows. twice they snapped ropes and cables, and the second time the boat flew up river, borne on the crests of brown waves, with only uledi and two men in her. presently she wheeled into the bay, following the course of the eddy, and uledi brought her in-shore. the third time we tried the operation with six cables of twisted rattan, about two hundred feet in length, with five men to each cable. the rocks rose singly in precipitous masses fifty feet above the river, and this extreme height increased the difficulty and rendered footing precarious, for furious eddies of past ages had drilled deep circular pits, like ovens, in them, four, six, even ten feet deep. however, with the utmost patience we succeeded in rounding these enormous blocks, and hauling the boat against the uneasy eddy tide to where the river resumed its natural downward flow. below this, as i learned, were some two miles of boisterous water; but mid-river, though foaming in places, was not what we considered dangerous. we therefore resolved to risk it in mid-stream, and the boat's crew, never backward when they knew what lay in front of them, manned the boat, and in fifteen minutes we had taken her into a small creek near umvilingya's landing, which ran up river between a ridge of rocks and the right bank. this act instilled courage into the canoe-men, and the boat-boys having volunteered to act as steersmen, with frank as leader, all manned the canoes next morning, and succeeded in reaching my camp in good time without accident, though one canoe was taken within two hundred yards of round island falls, between isameh's and umvilingya's.
"at this place frank and i treated ourselves to a pig, which we purchased from the chief umvilingya for four cloths, we having been more than two weeks without meat.
"lady alice" over the falls.
"on the 10th, having, because of illness, intrusted the boat to manwa sera and uledi, they managed to get her jammed between two rocks near the entrance to gavubu's cove, and, as the after-section was sunk for a time, it appeared that[pg 321]
[pg 322] the faithful craft would be lost here after her long and wonderful journey. springing from my bed upon hearing of the threatened calamity, i mustered twenty active men and hastened to the scene, and soon, by inspiring every man to do his best, we were able to lift her out of her dangerous position, and take her to camp apparently uninjured.
native mill for grinding corn.
"the lower end of gavubu's cove was reached on the 11th, and the next day by noon the land party and canoes were taken safely to the lower end of garafwé's bay. as our means were rapidly diminishing in this protracted struggle we maintained against the natural obstacles to our journey, we could only hope to reach the sea by resolute and continual industry during every hour of daylight. i accordingly instructed the canoe-men to be ready to follow me, as soon as they should be informed by a messenger that the boat had safely arrived in camp.
"the commencement of "lady alice" rapids was marked by a broad fall, and an interruption to the rapidly rushing river by a narrow ridgy islet of great rocks, which caused the obstructed stream to toss its waters in lateral waves against the centre, where they met waves from the right bank, and overlapping formed a lengthy dyke of foaming water.
"strong cane cables were lashed to the bow and stern, and three men were detailed to each, while five men assisted me in the boat. a month's experience of this kind of work had made us skilful and bold. but the rapids were more powerful, the river was much more contracted, and the impediments were greater than usual. on our right was an upright wall of massive boulders terminating in a narrow terrace three hundred feet high; behind the terrace, at a little distance, rose the rude hills to the height of twelve hundred feet above the river; above the hills rolled the table-land. on our left, four hundred yards from the bouldery wall, rose a lengthy and stupendous cliff line topped by a broad belt of forest, and at its base rose three rocky islets, one below another, against which the river dashed itself, disparting with a roaring surge.
"we had scarcely ventured near the top of the rapids when, by a careless slackening of the stern cable, the current swept the boat from the hands of that portion of her crew whose duty it was to lower her carefully and cautiously down the fall, to the narrow line of ebb-flood below the rocky projection. away into the centre of the angry, foaming, billowy stream the boat darted, dragging one man[pg 323] into the maddened flood, to whom, despite our awful position, i was able to lend a hand and lift into the boat.
falls on a tributary stream.
"'oars, my boys, and be steady! uledi, to the helm!' were all the instructions i was able to shout, after which, standing at the bow of the boat, i guided the coxswain with my hand; for now, as we rode downward furiously on the crests of the proud waves, the human voice was weak against the overwhelming thunder of the angry river. oars were only useful to assist the helm, for we were flying at a terrific speed past the series of boulders which strangled the river. never did the rocks assume such hardness, such solemn grimness and bigness, never were they invested with such terrors and such grandeur of height, as while we were the cruel sport and prey of the brown-black waves, which whirled us round like a spinning-top, swung us aside, almost engulfed us in the rapidly subsiding troughs, and then hurled us upon the white, rageful crests of others. ah! with what feelings we regarded this awful power which the great river had now developed! how we cringed under its imperious, compelling, and irresistible force! what lightning retrospects we cast upon our past lives! how impotent we felt before it!
[pg 324]
"'la il allah, il allah!' screamed young mabruki. 'we are lost! yes, we are lost!'
an upland stream and native bridge.
"after two miles we were abreast of the bay, or indentation, at which we had hoped to camp, but the strong river mocked our efforts to gain it. the flood was resolved we should taste the bitterness of death. a sudden rumbling noise, like the deadened sound of an earthquake, caused us to look below, and we saw the river heaved bodily upward, as though a volcano were about to belch around us. up to the summit of this watery mound we were impelled; and then, divining what was about to take place, i shouted out, 'pull, men, for your lives!'
"a few frantic strokes drove us to the lower side of the mound, and before it had finished subsiding, and had begun its usual fatal circling, we were precipitated over a small fall, and sweeping down towards the inlet into which the nkenké cataract tumbled, below the lowest lines of breakers of the lady alice rapids. once or twice we were flung scornfully aside, and spun around contemptuously, as though we were too insignificant to be wrecked; then, availing ourselves of a calm moment, we resumed our oars, and soon entering the ebb-tide, rowed up[pg 325] river and reached the sandy beach at the junction of the nkenké with the livingstone. arriving on shore, i despatched uledi and young shumari to run to meet the despairing people above, who had long before this been alarmed by the boat-boys, whose carelessness had brought about this accident, and by the sympathizing natives who had seen us, as they reported, sink in the whirlpools. in about an hour a straggling line of anxious souls appeared; and all that love of life and living things, with the full sense of the worth of living, returned to my heart, as my faithful followers rushed up one after another with their exuberant welcome to life, which gushed out of them in gesture, feature, and voice. and frank, my amiable and trusty frank, was neither last nor least in his professions of love and sympathy, and gratitude to him who had saved us from a watery grave.
the nkenké river entering the livingstone below the lady alice rapids.
"the land party then returned with frank to remove the goods to our new camp, and by night my tent was pitched within a hundred yards of the cataract mouth of the nkenké. we had four cataracts in view of us: the great river which emptied itself into the baylike expanse from the last line of the lady alice rapids; two miles below, the river fell again, in a foamy line of waves; from the tall cliff south of us tumbled a river four hundred feet into the great river; and on our right, one hundred yards off, the nkenké rushed down steeply like an enormous cascade from the height of one thousand feet.
[pg 326]
"very different was this scene of towering cliffs and lofty mountain walls, which daily discharged the falling streams from the vast uplands above and buried us within the deafening chasm, to that glassy flow of the livingstone by the black, eerie forests of usongora, meno, and kasera, and through the upper lands of the cannibal wenya, where a single tremulous wave was a rarity. we now, surrounded by the daily terrors and hope-killing shocks of these apparently endless cataracts, and the loud boom of their baleful fury, remembered, with regretful hearts, the sabbath stillness and dreamy serenity of those days. beautiful was it then to glide among the lazy creeks of the spicy and palm-growing isles, where the broad-leafed amomum vied in greenness with the drooping fronds of the phrynium, where the myrrh and bdellium shrubs exhaled their fragrance side by side with the wild cassia, where the capsicum with its red-hot berries rose in embowering masses, and the ipom?a's purple buds gemmed with color the tall stem of some sturdy tree. environed by most dismal prospects, forever dinned by terrific sound, at all points confronted by the most hopeless outlook, we think that an eden which we have left behind, and this a watery hell wherein we now are.
"though our involuntary descent of the lady alice rapids from gamfwé's bay to nkenké river bay—a distance of three miles—occupied us but fifteen minutes, it was a work of four days to lower the canoes by cables. experience of the vast force of the flood, and the brittleness of the rattan cables, had compelled us to fasten eight cables to each canoe, and to detail five men to each cable for the passage of the rapids. yet, with all our precautions, almost each hour was marked with its special accident to man or canoe. one canoe, with a man named nubi in it, was torn from the hands of forty men, swept down two miles, and sunk in the great whirlpool. nubi clung to his vessel until taken down a second time, when he and the canoe were ejected fifty yards apart, but, being an expert swimmer, he regained it in the nkenké basin, and astride of its keel was circling round with the strong ebb-tide, when he was saved by the dashing uledi and his young brother shumari.
"while returning to my labors along the bouldery heap which lined the narrow terrace opposite the islets, i observed another canoe, which contained the chief waldi rehani and two of my boat-bearers, chiwonda and muscati, drifting down helplessly near the verge of some slack water. the three men were confused, and benumbed with terror at the roar and hissing of the rapids. being comparatively close to them, on the edge of a high crag, i suddenly shot out my voice with the full power of my lungs, in sharp, quick accents of command to paddle ashore, and the effect was wonderful. it awoke them like soldiers to the call of duty, and after five minutes' energetic use of their paddles they were saved. i have often been struck at the power of a quick, decisive tone. it appears to have an electric effect, riding rough-shod over all fears, indecision, and tremor, and, just as in this instance, i had frequently up river, when the people were inclined to get panic-stricken, or to despair, restored them to a sense of duty by affecting the sharp-cutting, steel-like, and imperious tone of voice, which seemed to be as much of a compelling power as powder to a bullet. but it should be remembered that a too frequent use of it spoils its effect.
mode of passing boats over the falls.
"from the 18th to the 21st we were busy among rapids and whirlpools, which brought us into babwendé territory, where we encamped. nsangu, a village of the[pg 327]
[pg 328] basessé, was opposite our camp, crowning with its palms and fields a hilly terrace projected from the mountain range, at whose richly wooded slopes or cliffy front, based with a long line of great boulders, we each day looked from the right bank of the river. the villagers sent a deputation to us with palm-wine and a small gift of cassava tubers. upon asking them if there were any more cataracts, they replied that there was only one, and they exaggerated it so much that the very report struck terror and dismay into our people. they described it as falling from a height greater than the position on which their village was situated, which drew exclamations of despair from my followers. i, on the other hand, rather rejoiced at this, as i believed it might be 'tuckey's cataract,' which seemed to be eternally receding as we advanced. while the bateké above had constantly held out flattering prospects of 'only one more' cataract, i had believed that one to be tuckey's cataract, because map-makers have laid down a great navigably reach of river between tuckey's upper cataract and the yellala falls—hence our object in clinging to the river, despite all obstacles, until that ever-receding cataract was reached. the distance we had labored through from the 16th of march to the 21st of april inclusive, a period of thirty-seven days, was only thirty-four miles!
"on the 26th we reached the terrific fall described by the basessé people. the falls are called inkisi, or the 'charm;' they have no clear drop, but the river, being forced through a chasm only five hundred yards wide, is flanked by curling waves of destructive fury, which meet in the centre, overlap, and strike each other, while below is an absolute chaos of mad waters, leaping waves, deep troughs, contending watery ridges, tumbling and tossing for a distance of two miles. the commencement of this gorge is a lengthy island which seems to have been a portion or slice of the table-land fallen flat, as it were, from a height of one thousand feet.
"the natives above inkisi descended from their breezy homes on the table-land to visit the strangers. i asked if there was another cataract below. 'no,' said they, 'at least only a little one, which you can pass without trouble.'
"'ah,' thought i to myself, 'this great cataract then must be tuckey's cataract, and the "little one," i suppose, was too contemptible an affair to be noticed, or perhaps it was covered over by high water, for map-makers have a clear, wide—three miles wide—stream to the falls of yellala. good! i will haul my canoes up the mountain and pass over the table-land, as i must now cling to this river to the end, having followed it so long.'
"my resolution was soon communicated to my followers, who looked perfectly blank at the proposition. the natives heard me, and, seeing the silence and reluctance of the people, they asked the cause, and i told them it was because i intended to drag our vessels up the mountain.
"having decided upon the project, it only remained to make a road and to begin, but in order to obtain the assistance of the aborigines, which i was anxious for, in order to relieve my people from much of the fatigue, the first day all hands were mustered for road-making. our numerous axes, which we had purchased in manyema and in uregga, came into very efficient use now, for, by night, a bush-strewn path fifteen hundred yards in length had been constructed.
village on the table-land.
"by 8 a.m. of the 26th our exploring-boat and a small canoe were on the summit of the table-land at a new camp we had formed. as the feat was performed without ostentation, the native chiefs were in a state of agreeable wonder.[pg 329]
[pg 330] after an hour's 'talk' and convivial drinking of palm-wine they agreed, for a gift of forty cloths, to bring six hundred men to assist us to haul up the monster canoes we possessed, two or three of which were of heavy teak, over seventy feet in length, and weighing over three tons. a large number of my men were then detailed to cut rattan canes as a substitute for ropes, and as many were brittle and easily broken, this involved frequent delays. six men under kachéché were also despatched overland to a distance of ten miles to explore the river, and to prepare the natives for our appearance.
"by the evening of the 28th all our vessels were safe on the highest part of the table-land. having become satisfied that all was going well in camp, and that manwa sera and his men were capable of superintending it, with the aid of the natives, i resolved to take frank and the boat's crew, women, and children, and goods of the expedition, to the frontier of nzabi, and establish a camp near the river, at a point where we should again resume our toil in the deep defile through which the mighty river stormed along its winding course.
a figure in the market-place.
"the babwendé natives were exceedingly friendly, even more so than the amiable bateké. gunpowder was abundant with them, and every male capable of carrying a gun possessed one, often more. delft ware and british crockery were also observed in their hands, such as plates, mugs, shallow dishes, wash-basins, galvanized iron spoons, birmingham cutlery, and other articles of european manufacture obtained through the native markets, which are held in an open space between each district. for example, nzabi district holds a market on a monday, and babwendé from zinga, mowa farther down, and inkisi, and basessé, from across the river attend, as there is a ferry below zinga, and articles such as european salt, gunpowder, guns, cloth, crockery, glass, and iron ware, of which the currency consists, are bartered for produce such as ground-nuts, palm-oil, palm-nuts, palm-wine, cassava bread and tubers, yams, maize, sugar-cane, beans, native earthenware, onions, lemons, bananas, guavas, sweet limes, pineapples, black pigs, goats, fowls, eggs, ivory, and a few slaves, who are generally bateké or northern basundi. on tuesday the district above inkisi falls holds its market, at which mowa, nzabi, and the district above inkisi attend. on wednesday the umvilingya, lemba, and nsangu districts hold a market. on thursday most of the babwendé cross the river over to nsangu, and the basessé have the honor of holding a market on their[pg 331] own soil. on friday the market is again held at nzabi, and the series runs its course in the same order. thus, without trading caravans or commercial expeditions, the aborigines of these districts are well supplied with almost all they require without the trouble and danger of proceeding to the coast. from district to district, market to market, and hand to hand, european fabrics and wares are conveyed along both sides of the river, and along the paths of traffic. by this mode of traffic a keg of powder landed at funta, ambriz, ambrizette, or kinsembo, requires about five years to reach the bangala. the first musket was landed in angola in about the latter part of the fifteenth century, for diogo c?o only discovered the mouth of the congo in 1485. it has taken three hundred and ninety years for four muskets to arrive at rubunga in nganza, nine hundred and sixty-five miles from point de padr?o, where diogo c?o erected his memorial column in honor of the discovery of the congo.
african market scene.
"we discovered cloth to be so abundant among the babwendé that it was against our conscience to purchase even a fowl, for, naturally, the nearer we approached civilization cloth became cheaper in value, until finally a fowl cost four yards of our thick sheeting! frank and i therefore lived upon the same provisions as our[pg 332] people. our store of sugar had run out in uregga, our coffee was finished at vinya njara, and at inkisi falls our tea, alas! alas! came to an end.
view in the babwendé country.
"what would we not have given for a pair of shoes apiece? though i had kept one pair of worn-out shoes by me, my last new pair had been put on in the jungles of doleful uregga, and now six weeks' rough wear over the gritty iron and clink-stone, trap, and granite blocks along the river had ground through soles and uppers, until i began to feel anxious. frank had been wearing sandals made out of my leather portmanteaus, and slippers out of our gutta-percha pontoon; but climbing over the rocks and rugged steeps wore them to tatters in such quick succession, that it was with the utmost difficulty that i was enabled, by appealing to the pride of the white man, to induce him to persevere in the manufacture of sandals for his own use. frequently, on suddenly arriving in camp from my wearying labors, i would discover him with naked feet, and would reprove him for shamelessly exposing his white feet to the vulgar gaze of the aborigines! in europe this would not be considered indelicate, but in barbarous africa the feet should be covered as much as the body; for there is a small modicum of superiority shown even in clothing the feet. not only on moral grounds did i urge him to cover his feet, but also for his own comfort and health; for the great cataract gorge and table-land above it, besides abounding in ants, mosquitoes, and vermin, are infested with three dangerous insects, which prey upon the lower limbs of man—the 'jigga' from brazil, the guinea-worm, and an entozoon, which, depositing its eggs in the muscles, produces a number of short, fat worms and severe tumors. i also discovered, from the examples in my camp, that the least abrasion of the skin was likely, if not covered, to result in an ulcer. my own person testified to this, for an injury to the thumb of my left hand, injured by a fall on the rocks at gamfwé's, had culminated in a painful wound, which i daily cauterized; but though[pg 333] bathed, burned, plastered, and bandaged twice a day, i had been at this time a sufferer for over a month.
"in the absence of positive knowledge as to how long we might be toiling in the cataracts, we were all compelled to be extremely economical. goat and pig meat were such luxuries that we declined to think of them as being possible with our means; tea, coffee, sugar, sardines, were fast receding into the memory-land of past pleasures, and chickens had reached such prices that they were rare in our camp. we possessed one ram from far uregga, and mirambo, the black riding-ass—the other two asses had died a few weeks before—but we should have deserved the name of cannibals had we dared to think of sacrificing the pets of the camp. therefore—by the will of the gods—contentment had to be found in boiled 'duff,' or cold cassava bread, ground-nuts, or peanuts, yams, and green bananas. to make such strange food palatable was an art that we possessed in a higher degree than our poor comrades. they were supplied with the same materials as we ourselves, but the preparation was different. my dark followers simply dried their cassava, and then, pounding it, made the meal into porridge. ground-nuts they threw into the ashes, and when sufficiently baked ate them like hungry men.
nyitti, an african potato.
"for me such food was too crude; besides, my stomach, called to sustain a brain and body strained to the utmost by responsibilities, required that some civility should be shown to it. necessity roused my faculties, and a jaded stomach goaded my inventive powers to a high pitch. i called my faithful cook, told him to clean and wash mortar and pestle for the preparation of a 'high art' dish. frank approached also to receive instruction, so that, in my absence, he might remind marzouk, the cook, of each particular. first we rinsed in clear, cold brook-water from the ravines some choice cassava, or manioc tops, and these were placed in the water to be bruised. marzouk understood this part very well, and soon pounded them to the consistence of a green porridge. to this i then added fifty shelled nuts of the arachis hypog?a, three small specimens of the dioscorea alata, boiled and sliced cold; a tablespoonful of oil extracted from the arachis hypog?a; a tablespoonful of wine of the elais guineensis, a little salt, and sufficient powdered[pg 334] capsicum. this imposing and admirable mixture was pounded together, fried, and brought into the tent, along with toasted cassava pudding, hot and steaming, on the only delft plate we possessed. within a few minutes our breakfast was spread out on the medicine-chest which served me for a table, and at once a keen appetite was inspired by the grateful smell of my artful compound. after invoking a short blessing frank and i rejoiced our souls and stomachs with the savory mess, and flattered ourselves that, though british paupers and sing-sing convicts might fare better, perhaps, thankful content crowned our hermit repast."
ugogo cooking-pot.
"that will do for this evening," said frank, as he closed the book at the end of the chapter. "we will leave mr. stanley and his only white companion at their frugal feast, and congratulate them on their ingenuity in making the most that was possible out of the limited supplies which the native markets afforded them."
[pg 335]
wild bull of equatorial africa.
