the villagers slide down the banks as best they can and thus form a rude
path to the water. A half dozen men in an hour could make a convenient
inclined plain or steps, but the native only does what work is
absolutely necessary in order to live, and although loving ease, will
not take the trouble to make himself more comfortable. So he climbs
painfully up the bank every night from his canoe and slides down again
every morning without attempting to improve the path. The vanity of the
native however, causes him to take great pains to--as he thinks--improve
his personal appearance. Brass collars and bangles are very uncommon on
the Ubangi and beads take their place. The women wear short skirts made
of vegetable fibres plaited, which must take days or weeks to construct.
These are black or red in colour and are suspended from the waist, but
as the fibre is somewhat stiff, they project all round like the dress of
a ballet dancer. These are peculiar to the Ubangi and are rarely worn by
other tribes. The men wear only loin cloths and often carry a large
straight knife suspended by a leather belt strapped round the chest.

It is very hot from midday to sunset, but the nights are comparatively
cool. One afternoon we saw a great number of serpent-birds perched high
up on a bulbous tree, and, as they are good to eat, stopped to shoot
some. They were not at all shy and did not depart after several shots
had been fired, but wheeled round and round as if to discover what was
the cause of the strange noise. Ball, 3 and 5' shot were equally
efficacious and more than a dozen fell in a few minutes. These birds
have a beautiful black and white plumage with a long neck and bill and
webbed feet and weigh five or six pounds each. The flavour is somewhat
like ptarmigan and the natives eat them, as usual, without waiting until
they were properly cooked.

In the evening I took a stroll in the forest and soon found the recent