She had two masts, and oars in case of calms; her crew was of six
hands, including one Fernando, a Congoese, who could actually box
the compass. No outfit was this time necessary, beyond a letter
to Mr. Tippet, who had charge of the highest establishments up
stream. His business consisted chiefly of importing arms,
ammunition, and beads of different sorts, especially the red
porcelain, locally called Loangos.

On April 10, a little before noon, I set out, despite thunder and
lightning, rain, sun, torrential showers, and the vehemently
expressed distaste of my crew. The view of the right bank was no
longer from afar; it differs in shape and material from the
southern, but the distinction appears to me superficial, not
extending to the interiors. Off Konig Island we found nine
fathoms of water, and wanted them during a bad storm from the
south-east; it prevented my landing and inspecting the old Dutch
guns, which Bowdich says are remains of the Portuguese. Both this
and Parrot Island, lying some five miles south by west, are
masses of cocoas, fringed with mangroves; a great contrast with
the prairillon of the neighbouring Point Ovindo. At last, worn
out by a four-knot current and a squall in our teeth, we anchored
in four fathoms, about five miles south-east of Konig.

From this point we could easily see the wide gape of the Rembwe,
the south-eastern influent, or rather fork, of the Gaboon, which
rises in the south-western versant of some meridional chain, and
which I was assured can be ascended in three tides. The people
told me when too late of a great cavity or sink, which they
called Wonga-Wonga; Bowdich represents it to be an "uninhabited
savannah of three days' extent, between Empoongwa and Adjoomba