was very difficult to erect. A space had to be cleared in the forest
nearly two hundred feet wide and the line erected in the centre on iron
posts, so that any falling trees would not destroy it. At first, the
elephants strongly resented these novel posts and frequently knocked
them down as easily as if they had been nine pins, but have since become
used to them. At Lukolela there is excellent teak wood which is
fashioned into doors and windows and shipped to various places ready for
building. The nights are quite cool, although we are near the Equator
and the heat in the day time is not nearly as oppressive as it is at
Aden or Shanghai in the summer. Cultivation is much more advanced here
than in the lower Congo and the physique of the natives is remarkably
fine.

The navigation of the river here becomes very difficult, for the water
is shallow at this season of the year and there are many sand banks
which frequently change their position. Charts are therefore,
practically useless and each skipper has to feel his way each voyage.
Indeed, the whole time two boys sit on the bows of the vessel with long
poles sounding the water and shouting out the depth. It is curious that
when the vessel is travelling in shallow water, the engines at once go
slow of their own accord. One of the engineers explained that this
phenomena was produced by the difficulty the wheels experienced in
dragging away, so to speak, the water from under the ship when there was
little depth. Still the ships, frequently run on the banks, but as they
are flat bottomed, are not usually injured. The method of mooring is
very rudimentary although practical. One of the crew jumps overboard
with a steel rope, swims ashore and makes it fast to a tree. All of them
are expert swimmers and seem to enjoy their frequent dips, and as their
clothes consist of a loin cloth only, they do not require to undress.