mutton tasted particularly nice after the diet of goat on the steamer.

The effect of the climate on my digestion is curious. In Europe all
forms of starch and sugar give me indigestion and I have therefore to
avoid bread, potatoes, jam, sugar and kindred substances. Here however,
I have a craving for these things and never have indigestion. I mention
this personal trait, because many other travellers in the tropics have
often stated that they could march on rice and jam for days without
desiring meat of any kind. No doubt the system is working at, so to
speak, high pressure, but it is curious that a complete change in one's
idiosyncrasies should take place even in the first month.

On August 5th the _Flandre_ proceeds up the river, and we bid farewell
to our travelling companions, who seem to have become old friends in the
last six weeks. Everyone, is always most kind and courteous, and not
only gives every information, but also the benefit of his experience,
and thus affords much valuable assistance. The town of Coquilhatville
consists of rows of brick houses standing in their own gardens and
fronting on avenues. It may seem that one insists unnecessarily on the
fact that the houses are brick in all the towns, a fact which the
European would accept as a matter of course. The traveller however knows
that in most tropical countries, wood is usually employed instead, as
being easier to obtain and work. Indeed in the United States, the
country seats of even the very wealthy are generally constructed chiefly
of that substance. Bricks however, are by no means easily made in the
Congo, for in many places the soil is very sandy and it is therefore
difficult to make the brick bind. Again, lime is very scarce and all
manner of substances are used to make mortar. Among these the ant hills
are much in favour, for it has been observed that these structures which
are often thirty feet high and in proportion great in diameter, never