four boat-loads, and it being then
noon, I went off with the fifth myself, that I might get my dinner,
leaving the second mate to attend on shore, and taking with me the first
mate who messed in the cabin. As we were in the middle of the stream,
the boat struck against a stump of a tree, as we supposed, and knocked
so large a hole in the bow that she began to fill. I immediately
ordered the men to pull for the nearest point, which was on the opposite
side of the river, that we might ground the boat to prevent her sinking.

The first mate, who was a very active man, finding that the elephants'
teeth prevented his reaching the bow of the boat, and stuffing into it
some oakum which he had found in the stern sheets, sounded with the
boat-hook, and finding that there was not more than three feet of water
where we were pulling, jumped over the bows to push the oakum into the
hole; but the poor fellow had not been a few seconds in the water, when
he gave a shriek, and we perceived that a large shark had snapped him in
two. This was a sad mishap, and the men, terrified, pulled as hard as
they could, while two of them baled out the boat, to gain the shore, for
we knew what fate awaited us if we sunk in the river. With great
exertion we succeeded, running her up among the canes, which grew on
that side of the river so thick that it was difficult to force your way
through them.

We landed up to our knees in mud, and, throwing out the ivory, we found
that a whole plank was rent out, and that it was impossible to repair
our boat; and we were hidden by the canes from those who could have
assisted us, had they known that we required their assistance, and we
had no possible means of communication. At last I thought that if I
could force my way through the canes to the point down the river, I
could hail and make signals for assistance; and desiring the men to
remain by the boat, I set of upon my expedition. At first I got on
pretty well, as there were little paths through the canes, made, as I
imagined, by the natives; and, although I was often up to my knees in
thick black mud, I continued to get on pretty fast; but at last the
canes grew so thick that I could hardly force my way through them, and
it was a work of excessive labour. Still I persevered, expecting each
second that I should arrive at the banks of the river, and be rewarded
for my fatigue; but the more I laboured the worse it appeared to be, and
at last I became wor