the margin of the river; there was
unceasing vibration from millions of insects throughout the livelong
day. The sun shone large and warm; the river was calm and broad and
brown."

[Illustration: "TOWARDS THE UNKNOWN": STANLEY'S CANOES STARTING FROM
VINYA NJARA. From _Through the Dark Continent_.]

By January 1877 the expedition reached the first cataract of what is
now known as the Stanley Falls. From this point for some sixty miles
the great volume of the Livingstone River rushed through narrow and
lofty banks in a series of rapids. For twenty-two days he toiled along
the banks, through jungle and forest, over cliffs and rocks exposed
all the while to murderous attacks by cannibal savages, till the
seventh cataract was passed and the boats were safely below the falls.
"We hastened away down river in a hurry, to escape the noise of the
cataracts which for many days and nights had almost stunned us with
their deafening sound. We were once more afloat on a magnificent stream,
nearly a mile wide, curving north-west. 'Ha! Is it the Niger or Congo?'
I said."

[Illustration: THE SEVENTH CATARACT, STANLEY FALLS. From _Through the
Dark Continent_.]

But day after day as they dropped down stream new enemies appeared,
until at last, at the junction of the Aruwimi, a tributary as large
as the main stream, a determined attack was made on them by some two
thousand warriors in large canoes. A monster canoe led the way, with
two rows of forty paddlers each, their bodies swaying to a barbarous
chorus. In the bow were ten prime young warriors, their heads gay with
the feathers of the parrot, crimson and grey: at the stern eight men
with long paddles decorated with ivory balls guided the boat, while
ten chiefs danced up and down from stem to stern. The crashing of large
drums, a hundred blasts from ivory horns, and a song from two thousand
voices did not tend to assure the little fleet under Stanley. The
Englishman coolly anchored his boats in mid-stream and received the
enemy with such well-directed volleys that the savages were utterly
paralysed, and with great energy they retreated, pursued hotly by
Stanley's party.

[Illustration: THE FIGHT BELOW THE CONFLUENCE OF THE ARUWIMI AND THE
LIVINGSTONE RIVERS. From a sketch, by Stanley, in _Through the Dark
Continent_.]

"Leaving them wondering and lamenting, I sought the mid-channel again
and wandered on with the current. In the voiceless depths of the watery
wilderness we encou