more afraid of them a great deal than we were; principally, because they
had no bows and arrows, or lances, which were the particular weapons they
were bred up to the exercise of.

But we cured them of their fears by being always ready with our firearms.
However, as we were willing to be sparing of our powder, and the killing of
any of the creatures now was no advantage to us, seeing their skins were
too heavy for us to carry, and their flesh not good to eat, we resolved
therefore to keep some of our pieces uncharged and only primed; and causing
them to flash in the pan, the beasts, even the lions themselves, would
always start and fly back when they saw it, and immediately march off.

We passed abundance of inhabitants upon this upper part of the river, and
with this observation, that almost every ten miles we came to a separate
nation, and every separate nation had a different speech, or else their
speech had differing dialects, so that they did not understand one another.
They all abounded in cattle, especially on the river-side; and the eighth
day of this second navigation we met with a little negro town, where they
had growing a sort of corn like rice, which ate very sweet; and, as we got
some of it of the people, we made very good cakes of bread of it, and,
making a fire, baked them on the ground, after the fire was swept away,
very well; so that hitherto we had no want of provisions of any kind that
we could desire.

Our negroes towing our canoes, we travelled at a considerable rate, and by
our own account could not go less than twenty or twenty-five English miles
a day, and the river continuing to be much of the same breadth and very
deep all the way, till on the tenth day we came to another cataract; for a
ridge of high hills crossing the whole channel of the river, the water came
tumbling down the rocks from one stage to another in a strange manner, so